Skills upgrade takes its lead from business

“The UK must become a world leader in skills,” said the Government-commissioned Leitch Review of Skills, published in December 2006.

“‘Economically valuable skills’ is our mantra.”

The report is far from a one-off initiative.

Ongoing skills

A long-term, national skills-boosting agenda covers skills at every level – from graduate management to sector-specific skilled workers – all aimed at making the UK a world leader in skills by 2020.

Progress to date includes rising standards in secondary education and rising graduate numbers.

We understand what investors need because we work closely with them.

Peter Dunn

Communications manager

University of Warwick

As of January 2007, national statistics show that 75 per cent of the workforce have the necessary skills to guarantee employability and improve productivity.

Hi-tech centre of excellence

In several important areas, the UK’s workforce is already world-class.

Much of the impetus for the private-sector development of “Silicon Fen”, the UK’s leading technology hub with more than 1,000 companies and the world’s second-largest venture capital market, has come from the supply of technology specialists from nearby Cambridge University.

The university’s Judge School of Management has embraced this role, with a programme to equip postgraduate scientists with workplace skills through industry partnerships.

Education and industry in partnership

The UK can point to further examples of best practice in partnerships between education and industry.

The University of Warwick’s business school, for example, recently signed a partnership with the Export-Import Bank of India that will broker trade between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Midlands and the subcontinent.

The agreement could be the first of many, according to Peter Dunn, communications manager at the university.

“We understand what investors need because we work closely with them,” says Dunn.

“We can achieve good results for the SMEs and for the university – because it means we can develop a programme we otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”

Learning from business

The UK’s skills agenda isn’t just about upping the number of research and development prodigies, or even just about increasing the number of graduates to at least 50 per cent.

It’s also about boosting both the quantity and quality of skilled workers, for instance by increasing the number of apprentices by 500,000 a year.

It’s based on some core principles – notably, shared responsibility between employers, employees and government; and a focus on economically viable skills.

Demand-driven approach

A fundamental tenet of the programme to upgrade vocational skills is that it be demand-led rather than centrally planned.

“We’ve long supported a demand-led system that responds to what business needs,” says Louise Morgan, Policy Adviser to employers’ organisation the Confederation of British Industry.

Academies of excellence

National Skills Academies, for instance, provide sector-specific centres of excellence for vocational training targeting 16-19-year-olds.

Those launched to date cover sectors from nuclear power to financial services.

Altogether, 12 such academies will open by 2008 – all championed by specialist businesses in the field.

“It’s a real opportunity for us as employers to be clear about the skills we need and confident that we will get them,” says Stuart Bernau, group retail director of Nationwide Building Society, which championed the financial services academy.

“It will create a wider pool of qualified recruits, ready to start work and hit the ground running.”

Story links

HM Treasury – Leitch Review

CBI – learning and skills news

National Skills Academy