The British Council China, in collaboration with the International Unit, is calling for UK institutions and organisations to put in bids for collaboration with China under the specific theme of ‘Graduate Employability’.   

This project is funded and supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills under the UK-China Partners in Education (UKCPIE) initiative.

Why Graduate Employability? 

There are an increasing number of people participating in tertiary education in both China and the UK. For nearly all, a, if not the, primary motivation for further study is to improve their employment prospects. Working together with the industry sector, universities have been able to successfully prepare their students for a dynamic and demanding future labour market.

This call for proposals seeks entries from UK higher education institutions looking to develop innovative pilot projects with Chinese institutions in the areas of graduate employability.

About the Fund

With the aim of enhancing higher education links between the UK and China, the fund offers five awards of seed-funding of up to £30,000 each to support joint UK-China projects in developing programmes that will support graduate employability. Other pilot projects focused on collaboration with industry may also be considered.    

Funding will be provided and administered by the British Council China and funding decisions will be made by a Project Board consisting of representatives from the British Council, the UK education sector, and individuals who are community leaders in the UK and China.

The deadline for proposals is 14 November 2015. Projects in receipt of the one-off funding will be expected to start implementing their proposal no later than January 2016 and run the project for a maximum of 6 months until July 2016.

Who can apply?

The fund is open to all UK higher education institutions and their partner organisations[1].

Areas of Collaboration

We are looking for proposals that would be a catalyst for further UK-China collaboration in the area of graduate employability and entrepreneurship. These could include:

• Career adviser development and industry engagement
• Institution-industry partnerships
• Individual graduate development
• Joint collaboration in blended learning and industrial internships at master’s or PhD level
• Curriculum design, pedagogies and teaching styles
• Joint applied research into the development and adoption of effective practices in learning, teaching and assessment leading to improved graduate employability
   

We expect all approved proposals to feedback on outcomes/progress of projects, including identification of key challenges, themes and items for future activity in March 2016 at the UK-China Graduate Employability Forum, which will be attended by a wide group of education organisations from the UK and China.

Essential elements to be included in proposals

• Demonstrate innovative approaches to employment and entrepreneurship being taken across the UK higher education sector (including vocational education and life-long learning)
• Support and engagement from local Chinese partners
• Key milestones and deadlines
• Demonstrate direct impact on university graduate employability   
• Budget (please note, the fund may not be used to cover staff salaries or consultants)