The ASET Conference
The UK's annual Placement and Employability Professionals’ Conference runs during the first week of September. Delegates from all over the UK and Europe gather to hear keynote speakers and to present and attend workshops on the current issues in the sector of work-based and placement learning and employability.
We encourage individuals and organisations to come and tell delegates about new innovations and good practice systems they have developed and are using that might benefit others. It is also the perfect forum for receiving feedback on such projects from a broad range of practitioners.
With well over 100 delegates in attendance it is a great opportunity to network with other practitioners doing similar work at a whole range of different institutions and disciplines.
Employers and selected students also attend.
This is the most important annual event for all academic and administrative placement staff in the UK, and so we recommended that each placement providing HE and FE institution send at least one delegate each year to input and feed back on developments and practice nationally and internationally.
Back to top
Date and Location
|
The 2009 Conference will be held at Lancaster University Conference Centre between 8 and 10 September.
The historic city of Lancaster is a small, vibrant university city, and rich in cultural heritage. Lancaster's history can be traced back thousands of years and has so much to offer, from castles and museums, to great shopping, swish eateries and entertaining nightlife.
It is easily accessible from all parts of the UK by road or rail. There is also a direct rail link from Manchester airport for low cost domestic and international flights and connections. |
 |
|
Lancaster University Conference Centre has well appointed, quality furnished, conference rooms, with full hospitality services and audio-visual provision. Accommodation is onsite and all bedrooms are ensuite.
|
 |
Back to top
Programme
Full Brochure
Day 1 - Tuesday 8 September
8:00-9:00 Breakfast (Monday night delegates only)
10:00 Registration and networking
10:30-10:45 ASET welcome and housekeeping
10:45-11:15 Plenary – TBC - 'Future Fit: Preparing Graduates for the World of Work' (CBI/UUK Report)
11:15 Break
11:30-12:30 Plenary – Professor Lee Harvey - 'Evaluating Work and Learning: Reflection and Assessment'
12:30 Lunch
13:30-14:10 CPD 1 – ‘International Placements’ (Led by Lisa Fowlie, Health and Safety Adviser, Bangor University)
14.20-15:00 CPD 2 – ‘Equal Opportunities’ (Led by Marcella Wright, Head of the Equality Unit, University of Hertfordshire)
15:00 Break
15:30-16.10 CPD 3 – ‘Enterprise and Entrepreneurship’ (Led by Tamsin Pyne, Employer Liaison Manager, University of Plymouth)
16.20-17:00 CPD 4 – ‘Employment Law’ (Led by Carrie de Silva, Principal Lecturer in Law and Taxation, Harper Adams University College)
18:30 Drinks Reception
19:30 Dinner at Barker House Farm
Day 2 – Wednesday 9 September
8:00-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-9:45 Workshop 1 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
9:55-10:40 Workshop 2 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
10:40 Break
11:15-13:15 Plenary Panel Session - 'Equipping Students to Succeed in an Austere Job Market' (Including the ASET AGM)
Panellists: Dr Geoffrey Copland (ASET), Dr Maurits van Rooijen (WACE), Louise Holmes (Enterprise PLC) , Lisa Hyman (Accenture), TBC (Barclays) and others TBC
13:15-14:00 Lunch
14.15 Social Trip – Lancaster Castle or Williamson Park (pick up back at 16:30/16:45)
18:30 Depart Campus
19:00 Drinks Reception in Revolution Bar, Lancaster City Centre
19:30 Dinner at Penny Street Bridge or The Waterwitch in Lancaster City Centre
Day 3 – Thursday 10 September
8:00-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-9:45 Workshop 3 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
9:55-10:40 Workshop 4 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
10:40 Break
10:55-11:40 Workshop 5 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
11:50-12:35 Workshop 6 (see separate Workshop Timetable below)
12.40-12:50 ASET Conference wrap-up
12:50 Lunch and depart
Back to top
Speakers
TBC Report Team, CBI/UUK
‘Future Fit: Preparing Graduates for the World of Work’
A member of the CBI/UUK ‘Future Fit: Preparing Graduates for the World of Work’ report team will set the agenda for the conference by discussing this report. The report itself can be read at:
www.asetonline.org/documents/CBIandUUK-FutureFit-PreparingGraduatesfortheWorldofWork.pdf
Professor Lee Harvey, Copenhagen Business School
‘Evaluating Work and Learning: Reflection and Assessment’
Professor Harvey will address the theme of the Conference: Evaluating Work and Learning: Reflection and Assessment, drawing on his experience and past work. He will look at the challenges ahead for increasing this type of activity (evaluating work and learning through reflection and assessment) with the HE learners of the future. He will also look at the idea of those with experience in assessing placements and experiential learning being in a prime position to serve/inform the new agenda.
CPD 1 – Lisa Fowlie, Bangor University
‘International Placements’
CPD 2 – Marcella Wright, University of Hertfordshire
‘Equal Opportunities’
CPD 3 – Tamsin Pyne, University of Plymouth
‘Enterprise and Entrepreneurship’
CPD 4 – Carrie de Silva, Harper Adams University College
‘Employment Law’
Plenary Panel Session
‘Equipping Students to Succeed in an Austere Job Market’
Panellists:
Dr Geoffrey Copland, ASET President
Geoffrey Copland is former Vice-Chancellor of University of Westminster, Vice-President of UUK and Chairman of UCEA. He became ASET President in 2006.
Dr Maurits van Rooijen, WACE President
Maurits van Rooijen is President of WACE (World Association for Cooperative Education). WACE is an international organisation devoted to promoting work-integrated learning programmes worldwide and was set up by ASET in the mid-1980s as an international umbrella group for national placement organisations such as ASET. It is now based in Boston, USA.
Louise Holmes, Enterprise PLC
Louise Holmes is the Graduate Recruitment Manager of Enterprise PLC. Enterprise is the UK's leading support services and maintenance companies. It is based in Leyland in Lancashire. Its core markets are local authorities and utility sectors, with focus on the management of planned and reactive maintenance services including property and building maintenance, waste and recycling collection, repairs and renewal of utility networks, highways maintenance, street lighting repairs and grounds maintenance. Enterprise employs around 10,000 people and is a major graduate and placement recruiter.
Lisa Hyman, Accenture
Lisa Hyman is the Graduate Recruitment Officer (Northern Region) for Accenture. Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. They help their clients become high-performance businesses by delivering innovation and their work invariably involves the application of information technology to business challenges. Accenture have over 180,000 people working in 49 countries and they are consistently voted one of the leading graduate employers in ‘The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers’.
Back to top
Presentations/Papers
A full Conference Brochure, with detailed information on all the sessions, can be found here
A conference announcement and call for papers can be found here.
The conference is participatory, allowing delegates to share experiences and learn from each other. We intent to put on a wide selection of sector research papers and practitioner workshops, delivered by individuals and teams from a range of UK and international institutions.
ASET is keen to disseminate the findings and recommendations of employability and work-based learning research, including the work of the Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
A key feature of previous ASET conferences has also been the opportunity to hear about work at a broad range of institutions, about new initiatives and projects, and of good practice systems – this conference will continue this strong tradition.
Annual Conference this year will address the challenges of evaluating work and learning. Workshop presentations are invited under any placement or employability related topic, though in order to provide a framework for the conference submissions on the following themes would be especially welcomed: assessing work-based learning, learning from and reflecting experience, equal opportunities for work placements, enterprise and entrepreneurship, and employment law.
Contributions Welcome
Selection of presentations will be based on a written synopsis limited to 500 words. The synopsis must include: (a) Theme; (b) Presentation title; (c) Presenter(s) and institution(s); (d) Abstract outlining the aims and objectives of the presentation, experiences covered, and issues to be addressed.
Workshop sessions will be approximately 45 minutes long and should be designed to be participatory in nature - it is envisaged that the presentation element of the workshop should be no longer than 20 minutes.
All contributions will be peer reviewed and those accepted will be published in the official proceedings with ISBN.
Deadlines
Your synopsis, as detailed above, should reach ASET by 4th May 2009
Notification of acceptance, following peer review, by 18th May 2009
Back to top
Social Events
Lancaster Castle
Those delegates who wish to can go on a guided tour of Lancaster Castle. The castle was founded at the end of the eleventh century and largely rebuilt by John of Gaunt during the fourteenth century. The notorious Pendle Witches trial took place here. The also castle survived an attack by Robert the Bruce and royalist attacks during the English civil war.
Williamson Park
Those not wishing to go to the castle can instead visit Williamson Park. Williamson Park occupies a commanding position overlooking the historic City of Lancaster with spectacular views across Morecambe Bay to the Lakeland Fells. The 54 acres of parkland can be explored by woodland walkways and broad avenues of attractive trees and shrubs with many quiet resting places to sit and enjoy the Park’s peaceful atmosphere.
Bad weather options at the park include the Ashton Memorial, a butterfly house, a min-beast centre, a foreign bird enclosure, an art gallery and a cafe.
Back to top
Travel Information
For directions and a map please go to: www.lancs.ac.uk/travel/travel.htm
Travelling by Rail
There are direct rail links between Lancaster and London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford and major cities in Scotland.
Taxi services are available from the rail and bus stations. Taxis cost about £8.
The bus station is situated on Damside Street. Buses (numbers X1, 2, 2A, 3 and 4) leave regularly (every 5 minutes on weekdays) for the 20 minute journey to the venue. Buses also leave the city centre at Common Garden Street for the University. All buses drop off at the University underpass, beneath Alexandra Square in the centre of campus.
Travelling by Car
Leave the M6 motorway at junction 33 and take the A6 north towards Lancaster.
Turn right at the third set of traffic lights on the A6 into the University main drive. Take the first exit left from the roundabout at the top of the main drive, then the first avenue on your right.
Parking
Parking onsite is free and plentiful.
Travelling by Air
An hourly rail link runs between Manchester International Airport and Lancaster.
See above for directions from Lancaster train station.
Back to top
Last Year’s Event
The 2008 Conference was held at the Robbins Conference Centre, Plymouth. 120 delegates saw plenary sessions led Professor Wendy Purcell (University of Plymouth),Tony Waite (Brunel University),Ralph Allemano and James Rainbird (IST Plus), Lisa Ward (University of Huddersfield), Friedrich Heger (UK Erasmus Student Committee), Professor Ursula Lucas and Dr Phaik Leng Tan (University of the West of England), Simon Dove (University of Gloucestershire), Dr Geoffrey Copland (ASET), Katherine Duffy, Professor Denis Anthony and Francesca Vickers (De Montfort University), and Dr Stephen Gomez, Karen Croker and Holger Andersson (University of the West of England)
24 practitioner workshops were also delivered by UK and international specialists, together with sector research papers and commercial showcases.
For more details, please see the Conference Brochure
Back to top
Booking
The delegate rates for 2009 are:
£450 from ASET member institutions, £475 from non-member institutions, Presenter rate: £425 (including non-members)
These rates are inclusive of three-day access, two-nights accommodation, meals and refreshments and a full conference proceedings after the event.
Day rates: £150 per day, £50 per night. (Half day rate for Thursday £75)
Day rates only include lunch. Night rates only include evening meal and breakfast.
Extra bed and breakfast on the night of Monday 7 September (no evening meal): £40
Other rates including one without accommodation (for local delegates) or combining particular days and nights can also be negotiated.
To book on the ASET Annual Conference, please use our generic booking form.
Back to top
|
