Integrating research and knowledge exchange in the Science Undergraduate Curriculum: embedding employability through research-involved teaching

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of how engaging undergraduate students with research and research-related activities can be used to enrich their learning experience and enhance their employability prospects.

There are two specific challenges in producing industry-ready science graduates: providing students with relevant subject specific and transferable skills and knowledge, and to provide them with appropriate industry engagement. The science undergraduate curriculum at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) includes research activities that are designed to move students from being recipients of knowledge to becoming collaborators in its production. This approach to “research-involved teaching” (RIT) provides students with opportunities to gain practical research experience through course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) and individual undergraduate research experiences (UREs).

Students on the CCCU science programmes are diverse, many coming from low-participation neighborhoods and/or with nontraditional entry qualifications who have taken up study via the Foundation Year in Science (Pre Higher Education level) that can be taken as part of each of the science programmes. Such students in particular can benefit from RIT.

This chapter briefly summarizes the development of undergraduate research in higher education and then presents examples of specific pedagogic interventions, CUREs and UREs used across the CCCU science programmes.