professionals and further study: findings from market research centre for innovation in professional...

PROFESSIONALS AND FURTHER STUDY:Findings from market researchCentre for Innovation in Professional Learning

Professor Bob Hendy

Allison Arnold

© The University of Queensland

CRICOS Provider No 00025B

Welcome

• UQ’s first benchmarking survey to characterise marketplace for professionals engaged in further study.

• 69% of professionals have engaged in further study in the last 12 months.

• 40% have changed careers – and 53% of these required further study to do so.– Most of these changed careers in the

first 10 years.



The “third” marketplace

• Four marketplaces for UQ’s education offerings.

1 2

3 4

School leavers• Conventional

audience

Internationalstudents

Adult and community education

Professionals• Improving their

career or to change careers

3© The University of Queensland


Professional Learning Benchmark Survey

Characterise formative view of professional learning marketplaceExtent of participationMotivators, barriers and drivers

Definition of (formal) professional learning (CPD)Short courses, postgraduate courses, undergraduate courses and TAFE/VET sector courses

How does it relate to the evolution of their life as a professional?Professional career progressionTheir current career stageTheir next career

Professional market research company, Colmar Brunton implemented both survey mechanics and analysed the resulting data.



Career progression model

Our original hypothesis

Award Programs

ShortCourses

Articulationinto AwardPrograms

Nextcareer

Currentcareer



Who did we survey?

UQ Alumnin = 789

General professionals‘Non-alumni’

n = 130

CATI methodology

Onlinemethodology

Reflected on data - behaviours and profiles from both samples…

Combined into one samplen = 919



Gender Male 56% Female 44%

Age20-29 Years: 34%30-39 Years: 35%40-49 Years: 31%

Location

Australia: 78%QLD: 65%NSW: 19%VIC: 10%Other: 6%

(n=919)

Demographic breakdown



Industry

Business Services: 18%Education: 13%Health and Community Services: 13%Finance and Insurance: 10%Mining: 9%Government Administration and Defence: 7%Construction: 4%Science - Research: 3%Other: 23%

(n=919)




Profession

Management and Administration Professionals: 22%Engineers: 14%Business Services Professionals: 13%IT: 10%Educators: 9%Health Professionals: 7%Research Science Professionals: 7%Finance Banking Professionals: 6%Communications: 3%Community Services: 3%Social Services Professionals: 2%Other: 4%

(n=919)




Less than 6 months

Approximately 1 year

Approximately 2 years




Between 5 to 10 years



More than 20 years

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

9%

10%

9%

8%

6%

9%

17%

12%

8%

11%

Time in current career

Proto-professional19%

Less than 1 year in current career N=177

Early career49%

1 to 10 years in current career N=454

Mid-career12%

10 to 15 years in current career N=112

Learned/Elder19%

more than 15 years in current career N=176

Current career ‘stages’

More than half of the interviewed professionals are in their early career stages…

Career path breakdown



Demographic data

One

Two

Three

Four or More

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

33%

40%

20%

7%

Number of Bachelor / Post-graduate degree qualifications

More than half of the interviewed professionals are in their early career stages… and most of them have multiple degrees.



Do professionals engage in professional learning?

How much time do they spend?Q:



Total CPD - 69%

69% of professionals engaged in further study

Did not engage in any formal professional

development31%

Short courses60%

Postgrad courses

16%

TAFE8%

Undergrad courses3%

CPD = Continuing Professional Development



Short course activity across different professions

ProfessionCurrent Behaviour

% Average # Days

Total 60% 9.5

Management and Administration 49% 7.3

Engineers 55% 11.4

Business Services 74% 9.3

IT 49% 8.4

Educators 62% 13.9

Research Science 58% 10.6

Health 79% 7.2

Finance Banking 63% 10.3



An average of 10 days/year on short courses

Total participation Past 12 months

Next 12 months

TOTAL CPD% 69% 80%

Average # Days 32.4 33.2

Professional development short courses

% 60% 71%


Formal university postgraduate award courses

% 16% 21%


Formal university undergraduate award courses

% 3% 3%


Formal TAFE or other vocational education

% 8% 11%




Why are professionals engaging in professional learning?Q:



N= 635 103 325 77 130

Improve knowledge / skills 38% 37% 39% 40% 36%

Personal growth / professional development

21% 11% 21% 29% 24%

Career progression / Career development

20% 20% 26% 14% 8%

Requested by my employer / compulsory

15% 18% 12% 17% 19%

Keeping up with current practice / skills up to date

13% 10% 10% 17% 21%

Relevant to my work 6% 7% 4% 10% 8%

Professional accreditation 6% 9% 6% 3% 2%

Find a better job / better career opportunities

5% 6% 7% 1% 2%

Challenging myself to the next level 4% 6% 3% 5% 3%

Facilitate career change 2% 3% 2% 4% 2%

None / nothing 1% 4% 1% 1% 0%

Proto-professional(Less than 1 year in

current career)

Early career

(1 to 10 years in current career)

Mid-career


Learned/Elder

(more than 15 years in current career)

Total

Professionals are undertaking professional development because they want to grow

• CPD is about personal and career progression. More than 50% undertake professional development courses because they want to improve knowledge and personal growth.

• For learned/elder professionals, CPD is an important tool to keep them up to date with current practice and skills.

Improve knowledge/skills 38% Personal growth/professional development 21%Career progression/career development 20%



How many professionals have changed careers?Did they require education to change careers?Are they planning to change again?

Q:



Career progression and further study

40% changed careers overall

35% changed in first 10 years

25% changed in first 5 years

Previouscareer

TAFE Courses

8%Undergrad Courses

3%

Postgrad Courses

16%

ShortCourses

60%

AwardProgram

Career Changers

53% required formal

education

Nextcareer

AwardProgram

Considering change

45% believe they’ll require

formal education

Have you ever made a career change into a different profession?

Currentcareer



- 69% of professionals engaged in further study

- Average of 10 days/year- Improve knowledge/skills- 35% changed careers in first 10 years

!© The University of Queensland


Why did they change careers?Q:



Why did people change careers?


New challenges

New career opportunities

Better income

More stability

Other

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

61%

54%

37%

22%

11%

Reasons for changing profession



Career changes across career paths• Even Learned / Elder professional are also changing careers.• 46% of Learned / Elder professionals who have made a career changed were

in previous career between 6 to 15 years.

(n=365)

Less than 2 years 37% 30% 20% 15%

3 to 5 years 36% 30% 36% 39%

6 to 15 years 21% 36% 41% 35%

More than 15 years 6% 3% 2% 11%

Proto-professional(Less than 1 year in current career)

Early career


Mid-career


Learned/ Elder

(more than 15 years in current career)



Using education to enable change• Over half of professionals who changed careers in the past required formal education

and 45% considering a career change think education will be required.• And, 26% of professional who are considering changing career don’t know if re-

education will be required for this process.

No47%

Yes53%

Formal education was required in career change

Believe education will be required when changing career

No29%

Yes45%

I don’t know26%



Who makes the decision about what to study?Who funds it?Q:



Who made the decision?

- 85% made the decision to participate themselves

- Significant proportion of business services professionals undertake mandatory courses

- For engineers, it is more likely a supervisor made the decision to undertake a course



Who funded?

- 64% of professionals courses were funded by the employer.

- Higher proportion of IT professionals who have enrolled in free professional development courses.

- Higher proportion of health industry professionals self-funded their enrolment.



Value proposition has two audiences:The participant- 85% made the decision themselves

about what to studyThe employer- 64% of courses were funded by their

company/employer

!© The University of Queensland


What are the important factors when selecting a professional learning course?Q:



What’s important?


Content, topics or coursework covered

Quality of instructors/ presenters

The reputation of the provider of the courses (e.g. a university, TAFE, private provider)

Accreditation with relevant professional body

Length of time commitment

Cost of the course

Whether the course was delivered ‘face to face’

Course was offered close to home or to my workplace

Whether the course was delivered online

The course was mandatory (either by my employer or is mandatory in the industry/sector in which I work)

Course was self-directed (I manage the pace)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

82%

78%

77%

64%

55%

54%

45%

45%

36%

35%

33%

Those who have completed or intend to complete University or TAFE/Vocational Education Courses (n=455)

Content, topics or coursework covered

The reputation of the provider of the courses (e.g. a university, TAFE, private

provider)

Accreditation with relevant professional body

Cost of the course

The course is mandatory (either by my employer or in the industry/sector in

which I work)

Course credit/ pathway to further study (e.g. a Graduate Certificate or Masters

degree)

Course is self-directed (I manage the pace)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

86%

78%

69%

56%

54%

48%

46%

44%

33%

31%

28%

26%

22%

Those who have completed or intend to complete short courses (n=750)

Short Courses University/TAFE/Vocational Courses

What’s important…. Short Courses Uni/TAFE Content and topics 86% 82% Quality of the instructors/presenters 78% 78% Reputation of the provider 69% 77% Accreditation (for University/TAFE) 64%



What are the barriers or impediments?Q:



Professionals are time poor• For 30-39 year olds, family responsibilities is a considerably larger barrier than for other

age groups

20-24 years

25-29 years30-39 years

40+ years

Time commitment / time required to undertake a course / lack of time

50% 49% 55% 47% 51%

Cost 26% 29% 31% 26% 23%

Other commitments 14% 14% 11% 17% 13%

Family responsibilities 6% 1% 0% 10% 8%

None/ nothing 5% 5% 5% 4% 5%

Accessibility / Location 5% 3% 6% 4% 4%

I already have the knowledge that I need / not real need 4% 4% 3% 5% 5%

No relevant courses available 3% 1% 1% 3% 6%

Difficult finding an appropiate course 2% 1% 1% 2% 2%

I am already learning new things in my job 1% 0% 2% 1% 2%

Uncertainty about career aspirations 1% 0% 2% 0% 1%

Total

- Time is the main barrier to enrolment in CPD courses.



It’s about form factor.

Three vital ingredients: content, quality of instructions/presenters, reputation of the provider are seen as very important

But, time commitment is the most significant barrier.

So, the design challenge is…

Working within the time budget to deliver education value.

!



So what?

Huge marketplace for CPD in all its forms.

Career hopping is a well-established phenomenon.

Employers fund much of the CPD so offerings have to meet their needs as well.

Is it a different audience?YES.



professionals and further study: findings from market research centre for innovation in professional...

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