Conceiving, designing, implementing and operating an EDI engineering employability learning toolkit to aid graduate employment

Society 5.0 strives to achieve UNESCO Sustainability Goals, addressing world wide society inequalities. However, both AI-driven and traditional recruitment systems have historically perpetuated biases that have resulted in the underrepresentation of women and GLOBAL MAJORITY individuals in the engineering industry. In response, Canterbury Christ Church University has established a new equality, diversity, and inclusive (EDI) engineering, design, and technology education provision and adopted CDIO framework. The engineering programmes seek to create an industry-ready stickable talent pipeline that addresses regional and international skills gaps. Therefore, develop engineers capabilities and competence and practice for in the workplace in developing EDI engineered solutions and EDI in their practice with colleagues. Consequently, there is a pressing need for an Employability (EL) Learning Toolkit with a focus on EDI; that supports engineering talent to develop their EDI in practice with colleagues; assist them in securing meaningful employment; educates the next generation of engineering recruiters in recruiting EDI talent to the workforce. This paper presents the findings of a quantitative research study conducted on employers' perceptions of the recruitment and employment process for graduates. The objective of this research is to inform the conception, design, implementation, and operation of a prototype Employability Learning Toolkit with an EDI engineering focus. This toolkit aims to build upon the previous research and development of the Canterbury Christ Church University's Future 360 initiative, demonstrating the university's dedication to fostering inclusivity in the engineering sector.