Using guest lectures to enhance student employability: pedagogical considerations

The quest to boost student employability remains a critical focus in higher education. Accordingly, employability is a fundamental yardstick for the performance of universities, which reflects the capability of the institutions to support students in getting and keeping roles suitable to their education while adding value to themselves and society. Although the literature underscores the importance of graduate employability, the significance of guest lectures in meeting this goal – and strategies for convening it – has received limited attention. This study draws on the Self-determination theory (SDT) and pedagogical considerations to propose a framework for setting up impactful guest lectures that bolster student employability. Therefore, we employ the framework to provide guest lectures for a diverse group of 495 postgraduate students in the UK and collect qualitative data for analysis. Through a qualitative deductive approach, we uncovered how using diverse presentation styles while linking theory and practice supports the autonomy needs of students, exposure to the future role supports their need for competence, and linking guest speaker sessions to assignment tasks and co-creative environment supports their relatedness need. Our study offers novelty through an SDT-based framework for implementing guest lecture sessions that engender high levels of participation and engagement.