University and Your Future: Career Planning and Making the Most of Your Degree (FutureLearn)

You’ll learn how engaging with opportunities on offer at university will benefit you in the future and what you can do to maximise your time at university.
Feel empowered to make informed decisions around your degree choices and career options
The pressure to know what you ‘should’ be doing with your life when school ends can be overwhelming. However, the majority of people – including those who have chosen to study for a degree – do not have clear plans.
This course is designed to help you feel more confident to make decisions about your future study and career plans. You’ll learn that a lack of certainty about career plans is normal, and explore ways to take concrete action to build a foundation for future success.
Identify your strengths and discover modern career theories
Using research-backed career planning and decision-making theories, you’ll learn how to reflect on your own strengths and career goals to decide if studying for a degree is right for you and, if it is, how you can maximise your time at university.
You’ll also explore the practical ways a degree can influence your personal development, without subscribing to the need for a predetermined life or career goal.
Discover the benefits of gaining professional experience through placements
The course also examines the value of gaining professional experience as a means of developing your knowledge and deciding which career trajectory to pursue.
You’ll explore the options of placements and other employability activities that may help you reach your career goals faster and feel inspired to maximise any opportunities that come your way whilst at university.

Syllabus

Week 1: Career theories, your strengths and you
Week 2: Making the most of university

Learning on this course
You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

• Reflect on your own strengths
• Apply some common career theories to your own context
• Evaluate ways to maximise your time before and during university to achieve your career goals
• Describe how a placement year and/or other employability activities can support your career success
• Develop your own portfolio of activities to investigate your options for future decisions
• Create an action plan for personal and professional development

Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone applying (or considering applying) to university as an undergraduate or postgraduate who would like to reflect on their options and identify how studying for a degree could provide a solid foundation for career planning and thinking, through engaging with a wide variety of activities.
The course will help anyone unsure whether university is right for them to identify how to make the most of a degree to better their employability after graduation.
It will be useful for applicants to undergraduate courses as well as those considering postgraduate study, particularly international students, where engagement in career thinking before they arrive in the UK is key to future career success.