Project title: Aligning the development of transferable employability skills in teaching final-year students of Russian with the objectives outlined in The Bristol Skills Profile
The Practice
The key participants have been two groups of students (24 in total) enrolled on the Year 4 Guided Writing course.
Core components of the course include weekly peer feedback and a mid-term formative peer assessment conducted through Blackboard Discussions and supported by tutor guidance both online and in class. Throughout the 11-week course, students work weekly with a partner as part of a team of four to reach mutually acceptable solutions. The collaborative approach is designed to enhance analytical and communication skills while improving problem-solving ability and time management.
To help students recognise the transferability and job-market relevance of course skills, I created the portfolio outlining the key attributes required across several sectors of the employment market where our graduates commonly seek jobs:
- The Civil Service fast stream / UK government departments
- Law firms, investment banks, consultancy companies
– Teach First (Graduate Teaching and Leadership Programme)
The portfolio is permanently displayed on the unit’s Blackboard site.
While the approach described above has been one of the core features of the Guided Writing Unit for several years, the launch of the Bristol Skills Profile has encouraged students to engage with course tasks in a more proactive and purposeful way.
The Project
In September 2024, with BILT’s support, we secured the UoB Careers funding to form a project team to analyse the skills developed by final-year Russianists and to assess their alignment with the Bristol Skills Profile.
The team included the project leader and two student partners, who supported research and data analysis from the survey, a focus group, and interviews, while also helping peers engage with the Bristol Skills Profile.
- Thirteen students participated in the survey, representing 54% of the cohort (February 2025).
- The focus group included eight student representatives (March 2025).
- In February 2025, we interviewed five alumni who graduated with a degree in Russian between 2020 and 2024.
Findings
Transferable skills sought by employers, such as communication, teamwork, and problem solving, align closely with the Bristol Skills Profile, which emphasises similar competencies.
- Both frameworks highlight adaptability, critical thinking, and interpersonal abilities as essential for professional success.
- The survey responses indicate that top developed skills are communication, time management, knowledge handling, and teamwork. These are classic employability attributes essential for collaborative tasks and demanding roles that often require working to tight deadlines and the need to process information. Critical thinking skills were highlighted by some students suggesting that reflective elements of the unit encourage independent thinking and clear expression of ideas.
- The skills highlighted as most developed in the survey matched the results of the focus group meeting that took place in March 2025.
- Leadership appeared to be the most underdeveloped skill in both the survey and the focus group – this result tells us that tutors should more actively encourage initiative in peer-led activities within the Unit.
Interviews with alumni (March 2025)
As part of the project, we interviewed five alumni who graduated between 2020 and 2024. The interviewees included a postgraduate student, two Civil Service fast streamers, a Senior Eurasian Analyst at a political risk corporate intelligence consultancy, and a Senior Analyst for Russia & CIS at S-RM.
All interviewees emphasised that they developed strong intercultural awareness skills both at Bristol and during Year Abroad studies.
Four out of five confirmed that their communication skills were enhanced through Oral Practice classes, academic presentations, and final-year dissertations.
Four interviewees stated that their analytical and critical thinking skills were strengthened through modules such as Political & Economic Russian, Paraphrase, and Precis, with a particular focus on argument structure and information processing.
Teamwork and collaboration were strengthened in Paraphrase classes and joint assignments.
Confidence, adaptability, and resilience were developed through rigorous assessments and real-world tasks, particularly during study abroad experiences.
Critical Analysis of texts: working with authentic Russian materials trained alumni to analyse complex documents – skills they now apply across sectors in Civil Service and business intelligence.
The skills mentioned above are truly transferable: alumni apply them across diverse career paths, from political and economic analysis to business intelligence and the Civil Service.
Some interviewees suggested that we could strengthen the final-year curriculum by introducing broader post-Soviet content focusing on the Central Asian countries and other former Soviet states. earch.
The Impact
Most students confirmed that the activities conducted as part of the project helped them to understand clearly the transferable skills that they have developed.
Student Survey – sample responses – February 2025:
“I used ‘working well with others’ to leverage the diverse opinions of my partner; and research skills to learn more about the context to better position me to form a good translation.”
“In all honesty, engaging in collaborative work has forced me to keep up with the work as I now have someone else depending on me. It opened my eyes and made me reevaluate my time-management skills and encouraged me to be more proactive.”
“The Russian Language unit has made me much more analytical, critical, culturally aware and resilient; it has shown me new ways of learning a language and approaching a translation.”
- The high NSS 2025 scores for Russian at Bristol indicate strong student satisfaction:
Quality of Teaching – 95; Academic Support – 96; Assessment and Feedback – 90.
- Staff have taken student and alumni suggestions on board and implemented changes in the final-year curriculum.
Adapted interview summaries will be used in teaching Year 2 students in preparation for their Year abroad assignments with a focus on skills development.
Next Steps
The findings of this project are applicable across various disciplines. I am happy to share materials including alumni interview summaries, student activity outcomes, and a portfolio of skills sought by employers.
Contact
elena.mcneilly@bristol.ac.uk
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