Beyond OSU

Beyond OSU: a university-wide career preparation model

Beyond OSU is an institutional approach that provides an infrastructure where career readiness and development are intentionally built in to the student experience. Through career preparation and experiences, all students will develop skills and gain connections to help them achieve their goals.

When Beyond OSU is fully implemented, every student will:

• be prepared for life after college through career-relevant curriculum.
• receive tailored career support in their field.
• create relationships with employers and alumni to build their personal networks in the fields that they desire.
• engage in co-curricular activities that help connect to potential careers.

Career-Relevant Curriculum

Oregon State can serve as a national leader by infusing career development into its curriculum, ensuring that all students are meeting career-readiness competencies.

A growing body of evidence has shown the potential for faculty, instruction and curriculum to have a substantial impact on the long-term wellbeing and career mobility of students and elevate equity. When students speak often with faculty and staff about their career aspirations, they feel more prepared to enter professional life or an advanced degree program. Students are already learning core workforce skills through classroom instruction, but they are often unaware of how to translate that knowledge into a compelling story in an interview or a concise bullet point in a resume.

In addition to educating students about how to articulate the career skills they are developing, it is critical that Oregon State helps them prepare to find meaningful work in their field after they complete their academic journey at OSU.

Key elements of a career-relevant curriculum:

Tailored Career Support

Customized career programming for each college and experiential learning for all students can help us ensure that 100 percent of OSU students are gaining skills that prepare them for the future.

No two industries are alike, and a cookie-cutter approach to career development isn't sufficient. In partnership with Oregon State's colleges, the Career Development Center will create and implement college-specific strategic plans, which will support the unique needs of students in their respective fields of study.

What this looks like:

Employer & Alumni Relationships

Students in all of OSU's fields of study need direct access to jobs, internships, practicums, and alumni connections during their time at Oregon State and after graduation.

The opportunity to build relationships with potential employers is critical to student success after graduation. Oregon State has strong representation from employers in certain industries – particularly in engineering and business – but has room to expand its connections in other fields. Similarly, there is a discrepancy in the resources that different academic areas are able to invest in employer relations and recruitment. This leaves students in some colleges without the same level of access and insight as their peers. By partnering with the OSU Alumni Association, we can help provide access and connection to OSU’s wide-spread alumni network and begin filling in these gaps, in addition to building new relationships with employers.

Benefits of strengthened employer/alumni connections:

Connected Co-Curriculum

100% of students will engage in outside-the-classroom learning such as research, co-curricular activities, and student jobs – and they'll know how to connect those experiences to their future.

Research has shown that co-curricular experiences such as involvement in student organizations, athletics, professional associations, and on-campus employment, can contribute to improving the learning experience of students, as well as persistence, graduation, and career outcomes. In addition, the Purdue Gallup Index shows that extra-curriculars can play an integral role in a student’s future success.

 Elements of a career-connected co-curriculum