BNU academics from International Hotel and Hospitality School presented at the AdvanceHE Symposium 2024

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Missenden Abbey International Hotel and Hospitality School presents at AdvanceHE Employability Symposium 2024

Buckinghamshire New University's (BNU) Head of School for Missenden Abbey International Hotel and Hospitality School, Lisa Wylde, and Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Management, Alexandra Constantinescu, presented at this year's AdvanceHE Employability Symposium in Leeds. Read about Alexandra's experience presenting hers and Lisa's work, 'Knowledge - Application - Employability: an Authentic Assessment Framework for Hospitality Management Education' at the industry event below.

The Symposium was centred around the 3Es of Employability, Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, and welcomed participants from a wide range of UK higher education organisations.

The sessions explored various dimensions of enhancing students' readiness for the workforce. Topics ranged from dissecting the building blocks of the 3Es to fostering interdisciplinary teamwork, embedding employability skills in virtual learning environments, and integrating guest talks into modules. Workshops explored mapping graduate attributes in curricula, creating equitable year-in-industry programs, and implementing frameworks aimed to bridge the gap between academic studies and employer expectations. 

Presentation sessions covered co-design approaches to career readiness, embedding assessment centres and live assessments for enhanced employability. Parallel sessions also included presentations and workshops on innovative approaches to fostering employability as well as reflections on experiences and challenges in developing co-curricular initiatives to enhance enterprise skills.

Academics from MAIHS attended the AdvanceHE Symposium in Leeds

The theme of Authentic Assessment was widely explored during the symposium, taking into consideration aspects related to co-creation/co-design, industry-readiness and interdisciplinary learning. Representing Missenden Abbey International Hotel and Hospitality School, Alexandra Constantinescu and Lisa Wyld presented their work on "Knowledge-Application-Employability: An Authentic Assessment Framework for Hospitality Management Education". 

Drawing from a recent case study of assessment design and implementation, the presentation provided insights into a new authentic assessment framework for Hospitality Management education. The case study was grounded in constructive alignment theory, it was underpinned by Equity, Agency, and Transparency (EAT) principles - and adopted a non-linear iteration of the Design Thinking process. 

The duo presented their work, “Knowledge - Application - Employability: an Authentic Assessment Framework for Hospitality Management Education”

The presentation also included an outline of the Knowledge-Application- Employability (KAE) framework, which is based on a tri-dimensional view of authentic assessment co-creation, where students, educators and industry experts play an equally important role.

The AdvanceHE 2024 Employability Symposium was a fantastic opportunity to engage with fellow practitioners and to draw from a multitude of perspectives on how higher education could foster employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship by taking into consideration the diverse needs of students as well as industry expectations and the changing landscape of academia.