Integrating personal development and career planning

This article describes the way in which colleagues from the Business faculty, the Careers Service and the Library at Dublin City University collaborated to design and deliver an integrated approach to personal development planning (PDP) with the aim of motivating first year undergraduate students to take greater responsibility for their own learning, development and career planning. The article describes the approach adopted in the introduction of the PDP module and the measures used to evaluate its outcomes. There are indications from the research that undertaking PDP benefits students in several ways. In particular, it appears to impact on student retention by clarifying career goals and increasing motivation towards the chosen degree programme.