The London Higher Business Development Unit

Alan BrickwoodConsultant / Adviser to London Higher

Introduction

Highly Skilled London

• Grant Thornton Report (May 2008)

‘A strategy for increasing higher education’s provision of skills to London’s workforce’

May 2008

Findings

• London’s HEIs already have significant collaboration with London’s employers e.g. FoDegrees, research, consultancy and knowledge transfer, but

• this huge resource has thus far played only a small role in raising the skills of London’s workforce.

• London employers currently spend £2.3bn a year on HLS but only £64m (less than3%) is spent with the capitals HEIs.

Proposal

• The London Higher Business Development Unit (working title!) - a one-stop shop for advice, access, need interpretation, and CRM for employers to facilitate their greater interaction with HE

• A platform for HE to market itself as a workforce development solution to business, informed by labour market intelligence and an understanding of employer/sector needs

Why Now?

• LHBDU launch Spring 2010

• There were skills issues before the recession and there will be again as we emerge from recession – don’t believe me, believe the CBI!

21st September 2009

What business wants from higher education

• Support from high-quality research and teaching in increasingly challenging circumstances

• Raise the numbers and quality of graduates in science,technology, engineering and maths (STEM)

• Ensure all graduates have employability skills• Improve the environment for university-business collaboration

on research and innovation• Encourage more workforce training• Support diversity in the HE system to cater for an ever-wider

range of student and business needs

Commitments which all businesses should consider

• Employers should provide greater financial support for new graduate recruits

• Business should do more to encourage the development of the skills it values in science, engineering, technology and maths. The quality and quantity of STEM graduates will improve if business provides more guidance on the content of courses, and offers more opportunities for work experience at secondary school and at undergraduate levels

• Undergraduates should be given the chance to undertake real-life projects as part of their degree, and more internships and sandwich placements should be provided. Business should provide guidance on the nature of employability skills in all subjects

• To increase overall research collaboration, business should seek to work with universities as a core part of their innovation activity

• Businesses should seek to engage with the HE system to develop and help finance bespoke training provision for their employees

Workforce Development through Employer HE Partnership

• The CBI/UUK report Stepping Higher set out a number of issues for universities to consider if they want to increase this area of activity. They should:

• Offer more flexible approaches to the delivery of workforce development programmes – running them on employer premises, outside term time, at unsocial hours, or using distance learning for part of the course

• Help employers identify their future skills needs and show how they can be turned into training programmes. Learners on these courses may need a different teaching approach from traditional university students

• Market their services better, making it easy for employers to know who to contact, and ensuring enquiries are followed through effectively

• Make qualification accreditation as simple as possible

January 2009

Further Information