The past two weeks were among the most important for the students on the real estate and planning undergraduate degree courses at Henley Business School at the University of Reading. As first- and second-year students received their end-of-year results, those completing the three-year course found out how well they had done.
For 80% of the 114 final-year students – there are roughly 100 in each year – it was very good news. Eleven per cent got firsts, and 69% achieved 2:1s. Of these, well over 95% will be guaranteed employment, according to the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey.
In an industry that is still under pressure from the fallout from the recession, these are heart-warming statistics. And they are something of which Roger Gibbard, head of the School of Real Estate & Planning at the school, is extremely proud.
“The DLHE figures that have just come out for us in 2010 show that 97% of our students went on to the labour market or are going into another academic programme,” he says.
Not standing still
Even with its impressive success rate, the school, which merged in 2008 with Henley Management College, one of Europe’s oldest and largest business schools, to create Henley Business School, is not standing still. It is well aware of sentiment in the market, and has been adapting courses to suit employers as well as giving its students the best shot at getting a job.
In 2009, the undergraduate course was tweaked to include more practical project experience, such as property consultancy, for students in their first and second years. Previously, such hands-on experience was available only in the third year, while the first two years primarily focused on theory.
The changes obliged students to get involved in the real world of real estate and, as a result, improved their capacity to enter the job market.
Reading also introduced a mentoring scheme three years ago, pairing students with someone within the industry who helps a student compose their CV and look at job opportunities. Originally started for undergraduates, the scheme has now been rolled out to all full-time students, including postgraduates.
“The changes were partly in response to the labour changes, but also in response to employers’ demands,” says Gibbard. “Students were also coming to us with a different skills. But our programmes never stand still. They get tinkered with at the margins all the time.”
At the height of the recession in 2008-2009, Gibbard admits that undergraduate students in their third year became “nervous about their employability”.
“They perceived that master [MBA] students where picking off the cream of the jobs. But, in actual fact, that was not the case, and our employment statistics from DLHE stayed at 90%,” says Gibbard.
However, the school is keen to promote the importance of MBAs within the industry. Professor Ginny Gibson, deputy dean of Henley Business School, believes companies should consider investing in supporting employees who wish to study the further education degree, which will be a Henley MBA offered with real estate-themed options, as there is no specific real estate MBA.
“When firms had to tighten their belts in the hard times, they weren’t able to support their employees’ studies financially, but that’s now coming back as firms realise they have to invest in their staff,” says Gibson. “The whole sector is changing. As firms merge and become more global in their outlook, they need to develop strategic thinking skills in order to help drive the future of the organisations. Business leaders think about the drive for space and the demand for space, and that is what the property industry is all about.”
Continuing to improve, the school does not stand still. This summer it is set to appoint a careers development officer. “We are trying to improve on our statistics because we are not complacent,” says Gibbard. “Students need to be putting their CVs in the right places. They need to be honing their interview skills, and they need to be in contact with the right firms.”
Case study: Erica Macheriotou
Erica Macheriotou chose to study at the University of Reading because it has one of the UK’s top departments teaching planning and real estate courses.
The three-year course Macheriotou started in 2009 had been altered from that taught in previous years to allow students to engage in role playing and have more interaction with the industry. Previously, first- and second-year students would have concentrated more on theory, focusing on practical aspects of the course in the third year.
“The projects module is one of the best features of the course,” says Macheriotou, who has just finished her second year.
She says that students endure a good deal of pressure during the transition from the second to the third year because they must then apply to firms for graduate courses, with deadlines at the large firms closing around December.
“The summer of the second year is when we have to get most of our work experience, which is fundamental to helping to get graduate places,” says Macheriotou.
Macheriotou is keen to highlight the work of the school’s Reading Real Estate Foundation. “It is really proactive in engaging the students, and it brings in people from the industry to talk to us,” she says. “It also helps us to create contacts within the industry, and to get summer internships.”
Mentoring is another important aspect of the course. “The school tries to match us with mentors in the fields that we are interested in. Our mentors are really good because they give us an industry perspective.”
