DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release (2008/023) issued
by The Government News Network on 14 April 2008
A consultation to
build stronger and more flexible links between business and
universities was launched today by Minister of State for Higher
Education, Bill Rammell.
The High Level Skills consultation will seek views from
employers, students, colleges and universities on how to raise the
skills of those already in work and also ensure graduates are
equipped with the knowledge and abilities that businesses need to
compete globally.
An independent review of the nation's skills requirements,
carried out by Lord Leitch in 2006, highlighted the need for a
significant increase in the proportion of workers with high level
skills, from the 31 per cent level already achieved to over 40 per
cent by 2020. With around three quarters of the 2020 workforce
having already left compulsory education, new types of higher
education provision need to be created to compliment traditional
models, including more flexible courses designed and co-funded by employers.
Key areas of the consultation include:
* How business, trade unions, employers and employees can work
better together to encourage demand for high level skills;
* What incentives are working/required to encourage colleges and
universities to be more responsive to business and employer demand;
* What support or incentives would help colleges and universities
extend access to work placements to all their students;
* How employers can become more involved in providing careers
information, advice and guidance for pupils during their entire
education; and
* How to increase the number of people with the specialist
qualifications that many businesses desire such as languages and
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Minister of State for Higher Education Bill Rammell said:
"Thirty one per cent of the population are currently
qualified to degree level or above. To meet the economic
challenge posed by rapidly-developing countries such as China and
India, and to retain Britain's position as a key knowledge
economy, we have to get more people in the workforce qualified to
a higher level, at least 40 per cent by 2020.
"Our higher education system is already world class but we
can do even more to equip graduates and those already in work with
the higher level skills demanded by employers. Every university,
college and employer should be thinking hard about how it can
respond to this important challenge.
"Research suggests that approximately four million people
are already considering or would consider higher education and a
further six million could be persuaded under the right
circumstances. There is latent demand for higher level skills
within the workforce but releasing it will require changes to the
design, delivery and funding of learning to be more responsive to
employer needs".
Mike Harris, Head of Education and Skills at the Institute of
Directors, said:
"We welcome this consultation. Creating more extensive and
structured links between employers and the education system, at
all levels, is crucial. There are pockets of excellent practice in
the higher education sector already - some institutions have
enthusiastically embraced the employer engagement agenda and,
together with many colleges, are very responsive to
employers' skills needs.
"What is now required is to foster this attitude across the
entire sector, spreading best practice and overcoming any
structural barriers, for example funding mechanisms, that exist.
We must also make sure that the process is fully inclusive of
small companies."
Professor Deian Hopkin, Chair, Universities UK Skills Task Group, said:
"We welcome the central aim of this report to raise higher
level skills levels in the workforce. It builds on many of the
recommendations from Lord Leitch's report which emphasised
the crucial importance of higher level skills. Universities have a
key part to play in this and welcome the opportunity to do so. The
sector is already extensively engaged with employers - for example
through the UUK CBI joint partnership - to ensure that together,
we deliver the workforce needed for a highly skilled,
knowledge-based economy."
Last year the Government announced new moves to foster closer
ties between universities and industry, with an aim of 20,000
full-time equivalent additional students being co-funded by
employers and the Higher Education Funding Council for England by 2010/11.
This twelve week consultation will be explicitly driven by the
demand from businesses, employers and students, and will be used
to set out the Government's vision for increasing employer
engagement in higher education.
Notes to Editors
1. The consultation Higher Education at Work: High Skills: High
Value will run from 14 April 2008 to 7 July 2008.
2. Copies of the consultation document are available from http://www.dius.gov.uk/consultations/
or by telephone on 0114 259 3835 (quoting reference HLSS 4/08).
3. The consultation launched today builds on the announcement in
December 2007 by Bill Rammell to allocate £105m over three years
to provide at least 20,000 new student places that are part-funded
by employers and HEFCE. £15m is expected to be allocated in
2008-09, rising to £40m in 2009-10 and at least £50m in 2010-11;
this should fund 5,000 additional entrants in 2008-09; at least
10,000 in 2009-10; and at least 20,000 in 2010-11.
4. Building employer engagement and co-funding approaches will
reflect research findings which suggest there is significant
latent demand for high level skills within the workforce. The
research, University is Not Just for Young People: Working
Adults' Perceptions of and Orientation to Higher Education by
the Institute for Employment Studies, is available at http://www.dius.gov.uk/research
5. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
distributes public money for teaching and research to universities
and colleges.