Sheffield Graduate Development Programme (SGDP)
Your time at University is a very important one in terms of academic and personal development, and for many students marks the transition from full-time education into the world of employment. It is important that you set aside time to reflect on how your studies are progressing and make plans for the future. The department and the University will support you in this process through the Sheffield Graduate Development Programme (SGDP).
Central to the History SGDP is the role of the personal tutor. Beginning in Induction Week, you will have a regular series of meetings with your personal tutor over your time in Sheffield which will have two main purposes:
- To allow you to reflect on your academic performance and consider how you might learn from the feedback you will have received.
- To consider your personal development more broadly, including any opportunities for gaining experience and building skills outside of academic study.
Beginning in the second semester of Level 1, you will have a meeting at the start of each semester to consider the feedback you will have received from the previous semester's work. When these meetings occur at the start of Levels 2 and 3 you will also have a chance to review the previous semester/year, and consider your goals for the forthcoming academic session and longer term. There are simple forms which you can use to prepare for these meetings available here. The "self-assessed skills audit" should be completed and sent to your tutor prior to the first meeting in the second year.
| Year | First Meeting | Second Meeting |
| One | October (start of first semester) |
March (after first semester results) |
| Two | September - October (start of first semester, complete self-assessed skills audit) |
March (after first semester results) |
| Three | September - October (start of semester one and, for single honours students, noting feedback from Course Assignment) |
March (after first semester results, and checking dissertation progress where applicable) |
Dual degree students and Dual degree students, obviously, will be developing a broader range of skills, and may be spending half their time in a Department whose approach to personal development are different in focus or layout to ours. We are quite content for you to do this work with them rather than us if you have the choice.
So far as we are aware, Archaeology, English, French, German, Philosophy, Russian, Spanish, Sociology and East Asian Studies dualists will all have personal tutors in both their departments, and can therefore decide which of them to work on their personal development plan. If you decide not to work with your History Personal Tutor on a personal development programme you are, of course, still free to discuss any questions you may have pertaining to the history component of your degree.
Our understanding is that the Politics Department does not offer personal tutors to those students working for dual degrees with History. So if you are reading History/Politics or International History/International Politics you will (like those dualists listed above) have a different range of skills to add to those we hope to develop; you may fruitfully engage with some of what the Politics website has to say about personal development, but your personal tutor support will be in the History Department. Your Personal Tutor in History will know which degree programme you are following, and will be as helpful as possible in discussing personal development issues arising from the other discipline.
In considering your personal development during your time at Sheffield, there are numerous opportunities and resources at your disposal
- The University has a special web page here which describes a wide range of ways of getting 'more' out of your degree, including volunteering, the Sheffield Graduate scheme, and the Skills for Work certificate.
- The careers service provides a wide range of information and advice, not only on future careers, but on how to use your time at Sheffield to build your transferable skills.
- The department also provides numerous opportunities for you to get involved, including being a departmental ambassador on open days, being a staff-student committee member, or playing a role in the very active and student-run History Society.
Finally, it is worth noting that many employers operate schemes which are very similar to SGDP to help employees manage their careers - indeed all the staff at the University undertake an annual review of their performance in their jobs using just such a scheme.