Career Prospects for Post-Graduates

Just getting a university degree isn’t enough nowadays. Employers are in-creasingly looking for graduates who can hit the ground running. Post-graduate courses are monitored to match the needs of employers and make you “work ready”. Each degree has been developed in response to current market demands for specific skills. Employers look for graduates who can demonstrate both breadth and depth of subject knowledge. Combining sub-jects in a degree programme is a popular way of tailoring a course to reflect your career aspirations. Work experience plays a key role in making yourself employable. Some of the benefits are: the chance to put theory into practice; development of key skills; greater understanding of career choices; valuable career contacts for the future. Business is increasingly dependent on interna-tional trade, and employment opportunities demand well developed language skills. The course of foreign language will provide a broad range of language training opportunities for all students whatever course they are taking. To find the right career for you, you need to think about the occupations and jobs available – the skills, qualifications, experience and aptitudes you need and whether they are right for you. A postgraduate qualification from the BSU will be one that is recognized globally and will provide an excellent route to better career prospects. Major companies say they would rather employ stu-dents from the BSU. The University’s graduates benefit from our tradition of strong ties with business and industry.

We can say that our courses were more vocational, with students develop-ing better jurisprudence, teamwork and communication skills.

The BSU’s high quality facilities and teaching and its interdisciplinary ap-proach to research will enable you to make the most of research and learning opportunities available whilst studying for your scientific degree. It provides exceptional opportunities for research with commercial applications, drawing upon decades of working relationships with business and industry. All stu-

dents here receive “appropriate and relevant preparation, training and support for their development, helping them both to complete a high-quality doctoral thesis and to develop a range of knowledge, understanding and skills neces-sary for their future employment”.

There are undoubtedly scenarios in which a generic or interdisciplinary ap-proach would yield interesting results: for example, one could imagine how networking, team working, and some communication skills could be enhanced through contact with others outside one’s subject area. Such elements of train-ing must, however, be carefully handled, because the current crop of PhD stu-dents are surely busier than their predecessors, and are being required to pro-fessionalize earlier. Not only are they working to finish their dissertations within the three-year period of their awards; but also often teaching, attending conferences, making research trips, attending meetings, and engaging in other activities entirely appropriate to their stage of career.

It is clear that development of communication skills and participation in a research seminar are linked to an important professional activity: going to a conference and speaking about one’s work. Students are explicitly prepared for this experience in a special session on ‘conference culture’, in which they are given pointers about how to propose and present a paper, and are taught the conventions of an oral text. They are encouraged to use the conference as a way of raising their individual profiles, and as a springboard for future pub-lications. The delicate issue of networking is also addressed. The session is also an appropriate opportunity to plant in their minds the idea of running a conference themselves, thus further enhancing their organizational skills. Con-ference activity forms an important part of the career of any academic; for postgraduates it is an important way of participating in academic debate, and ‘showcasing’ their own work.

By the end of the second year of the program it can be seen together: the postgraduates are taught to make practical progress in the number of key areas of academic endeavor, with a view to having a significant body of experience by the time they complete their degrees. Introducing this information in the second year also helps to focus students’ minds on the key question of whether or not these postgraduates pursue academic careers, they will almost certainly be re-quired to undergo an interview in order to obtain gainful employment.

It is therefore crucial to present them with opportunities to hone their skills in this area. By this stage of the programme they will have had experience of delivering their material in a public forum, and will have made an attempt to develop their presentation skills; they should also have had other opportunities to defend their ideas, making a substantial, original contribution to knowledge in a specific area.

SECTION III

ATTENDING A CONFERENCE

FOCUS VOCABULARY

conference–конференция

to hold a – проводить конференцию

to organize – организовать конференцию

to host – быть принимающей стороной (устроителем) конференции to sponsor – спонсировать конференцию

annual – ежегодная конференция regular – очередная конференция forthcoming – предстоящая конференция

to take part (participate) in – принимать участие в конференции participant–участник

to run under auspices–проходить под эгидой(при содействии)organizing committee–организационный комитет

to set up an – учредить организационный комитет preliminary announcement–информационное письмоpaper(s) –научная работа(ы),доклад(ы)

contributed – доклады по инициативе участников invited – доклады по приглашению

poster – стендовые доклады review – обзорные доклады abstract (s) of the – тезисы доклада

style guidelines – требования к оформлению тезисов agenda–повестка дня

tentative / provisional – предварительная повестка дня on the – на повестке дня

items – пункты повестки

letter/notification of acceptance or rejection –уведомление о принятии

(доклада) или отказа

registration –регистрация участников конференцииfee – взнос участника

location and hours of – время и место регистрации conference proceedings–сборник трудов конференции

opening/welcoming address–вступительное словоworking language–рабочий язык

speaker–докладчик

to deliver/present a report–выступить с докладомsimultaneous translation–синхронный переводto take the floor–выступить,взять слово

plenary session–пленарное заседание

workshops–секционные заседания/мастерская/семинарdiscussion–обсуждение

panel s – обсуждение докладов специалистами round-table – обсуждение за «круглым столом» issue/problem under – обсуждаемая проблема

to exchange opinions (on)–обменяться мнениямиto talk shop–говорить на профессиональные темыreasoning–ход мыслей суждения

social program(me)–культурная программаto arrange a visit–организовать визит

to fix the date–установить дату

to close a conference–закрыть работу конференцииfinal sitting/session–заключительное заседаниеclosing speech–заключительное слово