Key quotes from The Guardian Careers Professionals in HE chat

Tom Davie, director of AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services): "Universities have a role in offering work to our students. A good example of how this can be done comes from my own institution where an MA student in museum studies has been researching the history (and writing articles) on one of our listed buildings. The experience is mutually beneficial as the student gets to develop skills that will increase her employability while we get something extremely valuable work done."

Charlie Ball, deputy director of research as HECSU (Higher Education Career Services Unit): "The idea that you should have your 'dream' job soon after completing your studies. Careers don't work that way. Most of us don't know what we want to do when we leave education and it's only through a process of experience and, to some extent, trial-and-error that we work out what suits us. The idea that young people should be expected to have made a life-defining decision that they're then locked into for the next 45 years - and that institutions have let them down if they haven't - is insidious and unhelpful.

Elinor Edvardsson Stiwne, head of department, Linkoping University Center for Teaching and Learning: "My question is: have you in the UK managed to move on further from that attitude and integrate the work of different professionals in the common work of guiding and supporting students? If so, while still trying to solve the wider issues, you must celebrate that achievement."

Matthew Batstone, New College of the Humanities: "When I took up my current role - a careers person moving into educational development and curriculum design - there were just a handful of people around the country to connect with. Two years ago I convened a meeting for 'employability developers' and 30 people attended, there are now 330 plus people in the network; careers advisers, consultants, subject specialists and others. All of whom are interested in embedding employability in the curriculum. Institutions need to be able to find these people and make the most use of their skills to develop students."

Read the full document here (.pdf)