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Global Education for Global Skills

The AGR conference 2008 focuses on the critical issue of developing students with the right skills for the international labour market. Kirsten Williamson, Managing Director of Petrus Communications, is chairing a showcase at this year's conference, on Monday 7th July at 17h.

The number of English students participating in international study programmes such as Erasmus has fallen from 9,500 to 5,500 in the last 10 years, whereas in Germany or France equivalent figures are over 20,000.* This is a cause for concern if we believe that international education - for example including a period of study or work abroad during a degree - can help students to develop key employability skills. If employers in the UK wish to consistently recruit from the best talent available, we need to develop that talent in the UK as well as recruiting internationally. This means that employer attention and support is required to meet the challenge of increasing mobility among UK students. Any international experience can enhance a student's skills, but those students showing the highest potential are looking for a greater challenge than a simple academic exchange. The success of CEMS - a strategic alliance of leading universities and international companies - is testimony to this. Examining the CEMS programme can teach us much about the profile and ambitions of talented international graduates and how we as recruiters can engage with them.
*CIHE report 'Global Horizons for UK Students'

Elisa Chami Castaldi, UK Bologna Expert for the British Council in 2007-2008 and UK ERASMUS Student Committee (UKESC) Member, will lament the lack of mobility among UK students, highlight the challenges to be overcome and the steps being taken to meet these challenges.

John Taylor, Senior Consultant, i-graduate, will present a range of initiatives and opportunities for employer involvement, with particular reference to the CIHE project currently underway which aims to identify the role that businesses can play in developing more global graduates, and recruiting them from UK universities.

Finally, Nicole de Fontaines, CEMS Secretary-General, will offer valuable insight on the profile of the CEMS students and graduates, how this successful programme has been developed and is now going global, and ways in which recruiters can engage with this high potential, international audience.

The Showcase slides will be available here following the conference.

Come to the AGR and have an international sensory experience

Petrus is exhibiting at the 2008 AGR conference for the first time ever, sharing a stand with Dawson Walker Communications. Dawson Walter and Petrus already have an impressive track record in delivering innovative communication and event programmes and have worked together on a range of projects over the last three years.

Whether working independently or in partnership, our teams provide bespoke consultancy and implementation for campus research, marketing communications, campus events and 'experiential' candidate attraction and engagement on a UK, European and global basis.

Our geography is different; what we share is a total commitment to exceptional customer service, and we have a lot of fun working together too!

Because our international teams can't all be with us at the event, we are taking along a sensory directory of our network to tantalise your senses. Within the boxes marked What on Earth? there are a range of sensory experiences that represent a selection of the countries in which we operate.

If you can identify what is in the box and where it comes from, you could be in with a chance of winning a prize from the following options:

• Dinner for two at the acclaimed Dans Le Noir? restaurant in London or Paris. Dans Le Noir? offers diners an extraordinary, heightened experience of taste, touch and sound - but not of sight. At Dans Le Noir? your meal is served by blind waiters and taken in total darkness.
• Relax and unwind with a pampering day of spa treatments at a Health or Beauty Spa close to your office or your home.
• Treat your taste buds to a Wine and Dine experience for two in either London or Paris! Choose from a Cheese & Wine Lunch at O Chateau in Paris or a lunch with wine tasting at London's Vinopolis.