gradireland.com - Jobs, careers information and advice for students and graduates - About us

THE GOALS OF GCI

The GCI mission is to lead, support and develop collaboration among higher education (HE) careers services in the development and delivery of high quality careers guidance for students and graduates, and in their work with employers and academics.

In carrying out this mission, GCI has the following goals:

Goal 1
To be the leading source of expertise on career guidance and information on employment and training opportunities for HE students and graduates in Ireland.

Goal 2
To help HE careers services to anticipate, identify and respond to social, economic, political and technological change.

Goal 3
To improve the professional competence of HE careers service staff and the quality of service provided by GCI member institutions.

Goal 4
To promote and represent the professional interest of HE careers services; to maintain and develop productive links with employers and influence policy with government, HE and other appropriate bodies.

Goal 5
To help careers services support their academic colleagues in developing students' employability skills within the curriculum.

Goal 6
To manage and develop GCI to ensure it can most effectively serve the interests of its members through the achievement of the above goals.

Goal 1

To be the leading source of expertise on career guidance and information on employment and training opportunities for HE students and graduates in Ireland.

Objectives:

To develop and biennially review an appropriate GCI information strategy, including uses of technology, based on current developments and requirements to support the work of GCI services
To provide GCI services, in conjunction with GTI Ireland and other providers, with high quality, accurate, up-to-date careers information, of interest to students and graduates
To collaborate with GTI Ireland to develop and manage appropriate careers guidance support materials
To provide accurate, reliable and useable national data on graduate and postgraduate first destinations, and to interpret graduate labour market information for users within and outside GCI member services
To develop effective means of publicising graduate opportunities through a variety of media
To provide opportunities for individual members to develop areas of knowledge and expertise to be shared with the wider membership
Establish appropriate liaison with AGCAS/GTI Ireland to reflect an Ireland perspective.

Goal 2

To help HE careers services to anticipate, identify and respond to social, economic, political and technological change.

Objectives:

To inform services about external developments within the social, economic and political environment
To raise GCI members' and their customers' awareness of diversity issues and to ensure that all GCI materials/products use inclusive language
To develop and biennially review an GCI IT strategy in order to increase GCI members' and their customers' knowledge and appropriate use of technology and the WWW
To assist careers services to embrace technology and to support their ability to negotiate appropriate resources to do this.

Goal 3

To improve the professional competence of HE careers service staff and the quality of service provided by GCI member institutions.

Objectives:

To develop agreed minimum requirements for entry into GCI membership
To develop service guidelines for quality assurance
To maintain high quality professional training and development programmes for all members.

Goal 4

To promote and represent the professional interest of HE careers services; to maintain and develop productive links with employers, and influence policy with government, HE and other appropriate bodies.

Objectives:

To be involved in or represented at national and regional discussions which address issues of central concern to GCI and its members
To develop and manage a press and public relations strategy to promote awareness and understanding of GCI's role in graduate guidance and employment
To ensure that appropriate links are maintained and developed with employers and employers organisations
To develop and enhance GCI links with government departments and agencies
To act as a channel of communication between GCI and outside bodies and to reflect and represent the views of member services
To pursue opportunities for bidding for, developing and managing relevant projects funded by government and other outside bodies
To maintain awareness of, and improve communication with relevant professional and other bodies
To play a leading role in the fields of HE careers guidance and graduate recruitment by liaising actively with relevant international bodies and providing models of good practice.

Goal 5

To help careers services support their academic colleagues in developing students' employability skills within the curriculum.

Objectives:

To share good practice in the area of the development of employability skills
To compile data on initiatives relating to the development of career management skills
To promote the development of career management skills as part of the curriculum
To collaborate in the development of computer-based career management skills materials for use on teaching programmes and as distance learning tools.

Goal 6

To manage and develop GCI to ensure it can most effectively serve the interests of its members through the achievement of the above goals.

Objectives:

To manage the affairs and finances of GCI in the best possible way to achieve its goals
To view biennially the structure and operation of GCI in order to achieve its aims in the most efficient and effective way with the resources available
To examine regularly the roles, remits and terms of office of the Executive Committee and its officers in order to ensure the best use of GCI resources
To review biennially the purpose and terms of reference of all GCI sub-committees, working group and liaison officers to ensure their alignment with the GCI Strategic Plan
To ensure effective and regular communication with the membership, exploiting the potential of the internet.