The Higher Education Academy

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The Higher Education Academy

• Employability and Employee Learning
• Jane Kettle
• 27th May 2010

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Overview of presentation

• Emerging policy context
• Summary of our recent work relating to employer
  responsive provision (quality assurance issues)
• Questions about future direction

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Emerging policy context

• 2006 Leitch Review
• 2009 Ambition 2020
• 2009 Higher Ambitions (Framework for HE)
• 2010 CIHE/SWHLSP Strategies for Effective
  HE-Employer Engagement
• 2010 Browne Review

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Issues?

• More with less?
• Shift in focus of priorities?
• Contestability
• Top slicing
• Following the market
• Renewed focus on widening access?
• IFS Briefing Notes April 2010 (analysis 25 cut?)
• Bleaker landscape?

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However

• Cross party agreement for Higher Ambitions?
• 2010 UKCES talentmap Guidance for employers and
  advisers
• David Willetts, keynote 21.5.10

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Recent Academy initiatives

• Joint working with QAA and fdf
• Emerging from and aligning with Employer
  responsive provision survey a reflective report
• Demonstrator projects (highlighting key learning
  emerging from the projects)

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What do we mean by employer responsive provision?

• Working with employers to increase the quality
  and/or the quantity of higher education provision
• Working with employers to enhance the
  employability and skills of our students,
  including those already in employment

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The QAA reports focus

• What is employer responsive provision?
• General considerations in assuring quality and
  standards in such provision
• Setting up employer responsive provision
• Teaching learning and assessment in this context
• The use of academic credit in employer responsive
  provision

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The Demonstrator Projects

• Maintaining HE standards in accredited in-company
  training
• Managing employer and HEI partnerships to
  maintain quality and standards
• Rapid response and fit for purpose solutions for
  employers, which maintain standards
• Designing, accrediting and assuring bite size
  provision

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The Demonstrator Projects

• Supporting employer-based staff and academic who
  contribute to academic awards on workforce
  development provision
• Supporting workplace mentors
• Assessment, including use of external examiners,
  Boards, roles for employers
• Determining the volume of credit for negotiated
  learning
• Achieving equity and consistency by quality
  assuring APEL

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About the demonstrators

• 9 leads, 21 HEIs, 2 LLNs, 1 FEC, several
  employers contributed to the projects
• Designed to draw out exemplar approaches to
  tackling key issues
• Designed to be read alongside the QAA report
• Will be available on EvidenceNet

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Example 1

• Assessment quality assurance of work-based
  assessment frameworks need to consist of an
  appropriate blend or meshing of workplace
  competencies, rubrics and organisational impact
  considerations with academic theory and
  knowledge, so that the end product is a learner
  who has developed comprehensive personal and
  professional attributes and who can be a more
  effective participant in relation to their
  organisational environment

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Example 2

• Partnerships the case studies highlight the need
  for academic staff delivering on
  employer-responsive programmes to have experience
  of workplace practice or, on occasions, to
  undertake additional training to prepare them for
  employer-responsive learning

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Issues and obstacles to tackle

• Whats in it for employers?
• Aligning University policies and procedures with
  EE
• Supporting / rewarding University staff
• What changes do universities need to make to
  withstand a global recession, demographic changes
  and cuts in funding? ?
• Agility of the organisation
• Employment relations
• Cost base
• Skills
• Structures

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Questions for discussion

• Within the general context, what is society,
  government, the economy looking for from HE?
• What do businesses and the economy look for in
  hard times from HE?
• How can HE develop a new constituency for the
  future in terms of workforce development?