Sarbani Banerjee

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Sarbani Banerjee Higher Education Funding
Council for England Yorkshire Universities
Annual Conference
HE Transforming the Workforce 26 February 2008
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HE transforming the workforce

• Meeting the economys needs for knowledge and
  skills
• The Leitch challenge and employer engagement -
  what does it mean for HE?
• The challenge of raising demand
• How HEFCE is supporting HE to expand workforce
  development

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Role of HE in the knowledge economy

• What weve known all along.
• Universities are major agents of economic
  growth
• Sainsbury Review The Race to the Top a review
  of the Governments science and innovation
  policies (HM Treasury Oct 2007)
• World class skills and international economic
  competitiveness requires HE participation to
  match those of our international competitors
• Leitch Review Prosperity for all in the global
  economy - World class skills (HM Treasury
  December 2006)

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HE already a major supplier of economically
valuable workforce

• Preparing undergraduates for the world of work
• Excellent postgraduate provision
• Continuing growth in commercially funded
  Continuing Professional Development - CPD
• Long history of collaboration with Professional
  Bodies, now including Sector Skills Councils
• Research and Knowledge Transfer.

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Graduate employability

• A good story to tell
• Traditional degree still good preparation UK
  has a highly flexible labour market in comparison
  with Europe many jobs advertised for grads of
  any discipline
• High graduate demand individual rates of
  return are still good (although variable
  across subject)
• High employment - 71.9 of graduates working or
  combining work and study six months following
  graduation 6 unemployment the lowest rate
  since 2000
• Beacons of good practice Centres of Excellence
  in Teaching and Learning and beyond

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Graduate employability

• But.
• Employers still have concerns Association of
  Grad Recruiters 2007 survey 67 expect
  difficulties in filling vacancies graduate
  selectiveness and not the right skills ¼ of AGR
  members recruiting overseas STEM challenge
• And how good is support for diverse needs?
• Grads from higher socio-economic gps still tend
  to do better in labour market in salary, job
  satisfaction and perceived quality of job
• Students from lower soc/ec gps find it more
  difficult to move into graduate jobs those with
  limited geographic mobility have poorer outcomes

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Where HE can do more More than 11 million adults
in work, most of whom wont progress to HE unless
we innovate, gain the commitment and investment
of employers and take HE into the workplace.
DIUS Labour Force Survey 2006,Q4 Working age
adults 19 to 59/64
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What we must do
Government Grant Letter to HEFCE (Jan 2008)
funding for workforce development (to accelerate
progress towards a new relationship with
employers)

• The HE employer co-funding budget for the next
  three years to be 15m in 2008-09, rising to 40m
  in 2009-10 and at least 50m in 2010-11.
• HEFCE to deliver at least 5,000 additional
  entrants in 2008-09, at least 10,000 in 2009-10
  and at least 20,000 in 2010-11
• Funding to support investment in HE
  infrastructure.

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This is not simply about skills

• Widening access to HE through increased
  flexibility of provision and HE systems
  Lifelong Learning Networks UnionLearn, Ufi
  Learning through Work
• Supporting HE to build, sustain and thrive in
  their chosen markets continuing excellence in a
  competitive (and international) HE market
• Building on and enhancing knowledge exchange
  activity, recognizing that much activity with
  business transcends boundaries of research,
  learning and teaching and knowledge transfer.
• Creating stronger links with regional and local
  partners for economic and community development

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Communicating the message

• HE cant transform the workforce by itself
• Stronger understanding about the business
  benefits of working with and investing in HE to
  raise demand
• Work with Universities UK, CBI, FDF, SSCs
• Better awareness of what HE has to offer and how
  HE has changed, and is continuing to change
• Making it easier for businesses to understand
  which university or college is the right partner
  for them and how to build that relationship
• CPD managers network, and Higher Level Skills
  Pathfinders

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Characteristics of innovation
Growing the new market of employer co-funded
provision for people in work who may otherwise
never experience HE

• Part-time and short course accredited
  modules/units
• Accreditation of prior/experiential learning,
  progression and credit accumulation
• Validation of employer in-house training and
  shared delivery with employers
• Innovation in teaching and learning delivery
• Promoting strategic approaches to workforce
  development activity within institutions

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HEFCE Funding 2008-11

• Employer Engagement Fund
• At least 105m over 3 years
• Operated outside mainstream funding arrangements
• Ring-fenced within our Strategic Development Fund
• Two components
• Employer Engagement Capacity Fund
• Contributes towards set-up associated with an
  employer engagement transformational project
• Employer co-funded provision fund
• Fixed - funding for a core of provision
• Variable - easy access to funds to meet higher
  demand

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Co-funding

• In return for innovative, flexible, customised
  provision which responds to business and
  workforce needs - we ask employers to pay towards
  the cost
• Not the full cost - HEFCE will contribute half of
  what it would normally pay for a mainstream
  funded learner
• An employer only pays only the difference between
  the amount of the HEFCE funding and the HE
  providers price for a learner on that provision
• An HE provider delivering employer co-funded
  provision should develop a sustainable cost/price
  model which will at least cover its costs through
  the combination of employer and HEFCE funding
  contributions.

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HEFCE funded projects (1)

• Coventry University
• Organisational development inside major national
  and international organisations
• University of Hertfordshire
• Creating the Business Facing University
• London South Bank University
• Central employer engagement unit brings together
  all employer an business services in one place
• Salford University
• Transformational programme, creating a
  university-wide workplace learning infrastructure
  for business

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HEFCE funded projects (2)

• University of Leicester
• Integration of workforce and organisational
  development for medium and large enterprises,
  through responsive and flexible provision
• University of Derby
• UoD Corporate offers comprehensive business
  improvement, customised skills development and
  lifelong learning services
• De Montfort University
• Enabling SMEs to grow an prosper through
  customised knowledge and skills packages
• Thames Valley University
• Onsite workforce development for companies on
  three of the most economically active
  business/industry parks in the UK
• Bradford University
• A progressive programme to create learning
  organisations in the public and private sectors

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• How can HEFCE support Yorkshire universities and
  colleges, with their partners, to play a stronger
  role in local, regional and national workforce
  development and employer engagement?

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The Leitch challenge for HE
World class high skills, exceeding 40 of the
adult population qualified to Level 4 and above.

• Encompass the whole working age population
• Shared responsibility for funding growth
  employers, individuals and the Government
• Focus on economically valuable skills
• Demand-led rather than centrally planned
• Adaptive and responsive to market needs
• Building on existing structures.

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FDs have led the way in employer collaboration
with HE

• SSC collaborative projects, including Cogent,
  Summit, GO Skills, LLUK Skillsmart and others
• Development of employer-led consortia, including
  rail, utilities, aircraft maintenance and
  bio-pharmacy
• Partnership with British Chambers of Commerce
  now 8 SME focused projects
• Innovation in accreditation of in-house training
  and qualification frameworks