University Graduate Challenges: Reflective Report on Skill Development

This report details a graduate's experience with several challenges designed to foster skill development and business acumen. The report begins with an introduction to the challenges faced by graduate students, emphasizing the importance of continuous self-improvement. The main body of the report analyzes four specific challenges: a debate on corporate social responsibility, a presentation on the supermarket sector (Tesco), a t-shirt design and marketing challenge, and a hotel management simulation. Each challenge is discussed in terms of the skills it helped develop, such as communication, time management, teamwork, and business analysis. The report also includes a detailed action plan for continuous skill development, outlining specific steps and resources for improving communication, teamwork, time management, and presentation skills. The report concludes by summarizing the key takeaways and emphasizing the importance of these skills for success in both academic and professional settings, highlighting the value of overcoming challenges for personal and professional growth. The report references several academic sources to support its claims.

Graduate challenges

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Main task..........................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8
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Introduction
Graduate challenges are the difficulties faced by a graduate students which can be because
of their lack of skills and knowledge, for an graduate students the challenges are common anyone
can face it, they needs to ensure that they are continuously working on them in order to develop
themselves, they needs to enhance their skills and knowledge in order to face these challenges
effectively and move towards growth and success. This report highlights the challenges faced
and which helped to enhance the skills required for the success and development effectively.
And the detailed reflection of what has been learned through these challenges. In addition to this
the detailed action plan of the skills needed to be improved to be successful at the university.
Main task
In order to perform various activities it is very essential for an individual to have different
skills and knowledge level so as to perform the given assigned task effectively and efficiently
(Albinsson, and Perera, 2018). These skills helps in analysing the overall potential of an
individual in performing their activities effectively.
I got an opportunity to participate in different roles and activities in order to show case my skills
and knowledge, but while participating in various activities i has faced many challenges also,
challenges are the part of academic career which helps individual to grow further by overcoming
them, similarly these challenges enabled me to demonstrate my skills effectively, participation in
these challenges helped me to develop my skills and knowledge effectively. The various
challenges in which i have participated are discussed below:
Debate challenge: I got an opportunity to participate in the debate, the topic given for the
debate was Is corporate social responsibility increasingly becoming more of a marketing tool?
Yes or NO or in the middle, we were given only 25 minutes to research about the topic and pick
a side. I will provide an explanation of CSR. This has given a chance to speak about the
corporate social responsibility or where it is becoming marketing tool or not (Brint, 2019).
Debate challenge was conducted in order to demonstrate our skills and knowledge, this helped
me to demonstrate my communication and time management skills, as it is very essential to
communicate effectively while debating with others in order to make them understand your
point, and i have analysed that i have to more further improve my communication skills also it is
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very essential to have time management skills as only limited time is given to prove your point.
These skills also helps in the further developed in the career (Chen and Du, 2021).
Presentation challenge: Another challenge in which i got chance to get involved in was the
presentation challenge, under this challenge i got an opportunity to present an presentation on
supermarket sector for which Tesco was taken as the base company, the main topic covered
under this presentation were current trends in the supermarket sector also the Tesco performance
since October, 2015 were also presented. In addition this I have presented about the financial
performance of the Alsi and Lidl and the Swot analysis of the Teso. This presentation has helped
me to understand the current performance of the Tesco in the marketplace through its financial
condition and also i got an opportunity to learn about the supermarket sector. While presenting
this presentation some of the challenges were also faced, the presentation challenge also helped
me to demonstrate my skills such communication skills, time management skills and business
skills as well as competencies development. Effective presentation skills will helps in the success
and growth of an individual. Through the participation in the presentation challenge i have
learned about the supermarket sector and financial condition of the Tesco, apart from business
knowledge i have also learned about the importance of presentation skills and required skills
further needed to be improved by me in order to enhance my performance effectively.
T-shirt challenge: Another challenge in which i got change to get involved in was the T-shirt
challenge, under this we got an opportunity to create a brand t-shirt, and then proper pricing
strategy of the product was done including the segmentation, targeting and positioning of the t-
shirt, also the team work strategy was also illustrated, i have analysed various teams involved
like logo designing team, marketing team, finance team, manufacturing team and monitoring and
controlling team, the estimated budget of this overall plan was 200 dollar. T-shirt helped to
analyse the market and the various strategies like pricing strategy and the team work strategy,
this challenge has helped me to demonstrate my teamwork skills which i think was effectively
demonstrated and also business skills in order to do the market research effectively. this
challenge will helps in the future business career building confidence to undertake challenges
effectively, this challenge has helped me to analyse the further skills needed to be improved by
me effectively in order to enhance my overall performance (Gil-Jaurena and Domínguez, 2018).
Hotel challenge: The last challenge in which i got chance to get involved in was the hotel
challenge, hotel management is the process of managing, controlling and directly all the
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functions and activities in the hotel, hotel management is the function which deal with effective
management in the hotel as well as in kind of hospitality sector, the hotel management involves
learning various effective management techniques which are suitable for the hotel administration
or any kind of hospitality sector. Not like the hospitality industry, the main focus of the hotel
management is on the hotel industry and its effective functioning. Under this challenge i got
chance to demonstrate my business skills and time management skills, this challenge has helped
me to understand the what hotel management is all about and what all things involved under this.
This has helped me to learned and understand about the concept of the hotel management which i
think will help me in my further academic career also in the future growth, in order to enter into
the hotel industry it is essential to understand what hotel management is all about and what all
things involved under this, understand this will helped me enhancing my performance effectively
(Hedges, 2018).
The above mentioned challenges has helped me to understand different concept which will
helped in my future growth and business career, this challenges also helped me to demonstrate
various skills also like communication skills, teamwork, time management skills and business
skills effectively, but i think in order to grow further and develop myself for the future success i
need to further improve my skills. In order to develop these action plan is taken into
consideration.
Action plan
The action plan is the framework used to demonstrate the skills required to be improved
the actions and resources will be taken into consideration to improve that particular skills and
also under what time framework it will be improved. This action plan is demonstrated in order to
develop various skills like communication skills, teamwork, time management skills and
business skills or presentation skills with the help of which various challenges can be overcome
effectively (Seyfi, and Hall, 2018).
Skills Actions needs to be
taken
Resources that can
be used
Timeframe
Communication
skills
The actions that can
be taken into
consideration in
order to improve
The resources that
can be used to
enhance my
communication skill
1 year
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communication skills
can be regularly
practicing and
engaging in debate
and communication
activities.
can be attending
various seminars on
improving
communication skills
and reading various
books on effective
communication
skills.
Team work In order to improve
team work the
various actions that
can be taken into
consideration can be
actively involving in
team work and
engaging in
volunteer work and
also continuously
participating in group
activity.
The resource than
can be used to
improve the team
work skills can be
reading various
books on team
management and
learning from experts
and also attending
various seminars on
team work skills.
2 years
Time management
skills
Time management
skills is one of the
most essential
required by an
individual in order to
finish their work on
time and bet better
results, various
actions that can be
considered in order
to improve the time
The resources that
can be used to
improve the time
management can be
use of 4D time
management while
doing the future
assignment and also
attending various
seminars by the
experts on how to
1 year
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management skills
can be dividing the
work according on
the basis of
important, most
important and urgent,
this will give clarity
of what task needs to
be completed first
and in what time
frame, also dividing
work in similar
pattern can also be
taken into
consideration.
manage time
effectively.
Business skills/
presentation skills
The business skills
and presentation
skills are the most
essential skills
required an
individual to grow in
the business
environment, the
resources that can be
taken into
consideration to
improve the
presentation skills
can be continuously
practicing and taking
part in various
The resources
required improving
the presentation
skills and business
skills can be taking
guidance from the
expert or senior or
taking to the expert.
2 year
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activities.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, in order to be successful and continue to
grow in the university there are certain skills required by an individual effectively, and enhanced
skills helps in overcoming various challenges easily leading towards growth and success. This
report highlights the various challenges like debate, presentation, t-shirt and hotel challenge and
the various skills demonstrated through these challenges effectively. Also the action plan in order
to develop those skills is also highlighted in this report.
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References
Books and Journals
Albinsson, P.A. and Perera, B.Y. eds., 2018. The rise of the sharing economy: exploring the
challenges and opportunities of collaborative consumption. ABC-CLIO.
Brint, S., 2019. Two cheers for higher education: Why American universities are stronger than
ever—and how to meet the challenges they face (Vol. 112). Princeton University Press.
Chen, J., Kolmos, A. and Du, X., 2021. Forms of implementation and challenges of PBL in
engineering education: a review of literature. European Journal of Engineering
Education, 46(1), pp.90-115.
Gil-Jaurena, I. and Domínguez, D., 2018. Teachers’ roles in light of massive open online courses
(MOOCs): Evolution and challenges in higher distance education. International Review
of Education, 64(2), pp.197-219.
Hedges, L.V., 2018. Challenges in building usable knowledge in education. Journal of Research
on Educational Effectiveness, 11(1), pp.1-21.
Seyfi, S. and Hall, C.M. eds., 2018. Tourism in Iran: Challenges, development and issues.
Routledge.
Southwick, S.M. and Charney, D.S., 2018. Resilience: The science of mastering life's greatest
challenges. Cambridge University Press.
Weiss, T.G., 2018. Humanitarian challenges and intervention. Routledge.
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