Funded by British Council, UK-Malaysia-Indonesia-Pakistan-China Partners
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ABOUT PIE
Employability via Educational Robotics Partnership Programme funded by British Council and EUREKA Robotics Centre, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Employment in science, technology, engineering, and Maths (STEM) fields remain disproportionately dominated by men, especially in engineering and Maths. According to a poll conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, only 27% of STEM jobs were held by women. The percentage is even smaller for managerial and senior-level positions. Change can begin with knowledge exchange, and efforts are being made at all levels of multi-institutional project as proposed, to encourage girls and young women to excel in STEM employment, regardless in academia or industry (IEEE Spectrum, 2021).
Employability is “a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.” Yorke, M. (2004), Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not, The Higher Education Academy/ESECT.
The PIE (Partnership for Innovation in Employability) programme, funded by British Council, aiming to nurtures innovation and facilitate interaction between participating universities and their industry partners. Cardiff Metropolitan University and York University are nominated by THE Awards 2021 for the University of the Year in the UK. The lead institution, Cardiff Metropolitan University is crowned Welsh University of the Year 2021 by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide and have jumped 24 places in the Complete University Guide – the 2nd highest leap in the UK.
EURKEA Robotics Centre nested within Cardiff Metropolitan University acts as a meaningful venue to host the PIE programme. It is one of the 11 specialist centres in the UK to access cutting-edge robotics facilities, the only one in the UK for social humanoid robotics R&D; and is also one of the 14 research groups for long-term healthcare robotics R&D. The placements will be led by the EUREKA Robotics Centre and York Robotics Lab at York University, co-supervised by academics from Malaysia and Indonesia faculties.