Posted By
Charles Levy
01 October 2012
Today ( Monday 1 October) the Royal Academy of Engineering launched a new report highlighting evidence that the demand for engineers exceeds supply. Supported by Big Innovation Centre research and analysis, they present a compelling evidence base.
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Posted By
Don Flynn, Migrants' Rights Network
28 September 2012
The Labour Party conference will convene in Manchester this week encouraged by its consistent lead in the opinion models and the sense that it just might be on course to win the general election in 2015.
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Posted By
Stephanie Bennion, Skills Strategy, Department for Work and Pensions
11 September 2012
In these times of economic uncertainty, the job market is challenging and jobseekers often do not have the skills sought by employers in demand sectors.
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Posted By
Dr Deirdre Hughes, Commissioner, UK Commission for Employment and Skills
11 September 2012
High street franchises are making a strong impact in the world of skills. McDonald’s famously launched its foundation degree in 2010, and KFC recently unveiled a BA Hons ‘KFC degree’ delivered by De Montfort University. Employer-led qualifications are popular, not least because the business usually foots the bill. But how valuable are they for learners and the bottom line?
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Posted By
Ksenia Zheltoukhova
31 August 2012
A feature in the HR Magazine yesterday (30 Aug) once again tackled the myth of a labour market overflowing with skills. In fact, ‘recruiting the best people [is] as challenging now as it was at the height of the boom’.
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Posted By
Ksenia Zheltoukhova
09 August 2012
New research published this week by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) highlights a dramatic lack of leadership and management skills in UK firms.
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Posted By
Charles Levy
24 July 2012
Today (Tuesday 24 July) the Lords Science and Technology Committee published a detailed report into Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Subjects (STEM) . The paper rightly highlights that we simply don’t have enough good quality science graduates to drive innovation and growth.
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Posted By
Gavin Edwards National Officer at UNISON
26 June 2012
In recent years the rhetoric from conservative politicians and commentators seems intent on driving a wedge between public and private sector workers. The truth is that economic hardships are not confined to either public or private sector.
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Posted By
Laurence Hopkins
30 May 2012
A public letter to the Prime Minister sent today and signed by 68 chancellors, governors and university presidents warns the government that its approach towards student visas is damaging the financial wellbeing of universities in the UK.
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Posted By
Annie Peate
28 May 2012
Today (28 May) Barclays, Ideo and The Work Foundation, will launch an exciting new web-based initiative to come up with some ideas. The OpenIDEO challenge will run for three months and will see thousands collaborating globally to address the challenge of ‘How can we equip young people with the skills, information and opportunities to succeed in the world of work’.
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Posted By
Paul Sissons and Nye Cominetti
21 May 2012
The OECD is today (21 May) publishing its Skills Strategy following a UK launch last week at The Work Foundation. We welcome the analysis, in particular because of its attention to the need for both supply side and demand side measures.
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Posted By
Spencer Thompson
18 April 2012
One feature of recent changes in the labour market is a growth in involuntary part-time and temporary workers, those working on a temporary or part-time basis when they would rather find a permanent job or full-time work.
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Posted By
Libby Hackett
28 March 2012
The UK has ‘too many graduates’. This is a sentiment frequently captured in newspaper headlines and widely held by many in the UK. But is it true?
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Posted By
Charles Levy
06 March 2012
Today’s (6 Mar) release from ONS does rather suggest that we may have too many graduates. They lead with two stylised facts “Recent graduates more likely to work in lower skill jobs than a decade ago” and “Over the same period the population of recent graduates who are no longer in education has increased by over 41 per cent”. From this it is not too much of a stretch to imagine this afternoon’s headlines and tomorrow’s comment pieces will claim that we should cut student numbers.
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Posted By
Laura O'Brien
01 March 2012
Last week it emerged that the unemployment rate was 25% for the 21-year-olds leaving university last year, compared to 20% of 18-year-old school leavers. There is a growing feeling amongst the public that widening participation in higher education has led to a proliferation of ‘mickey mouse’ degrees and a corresponding drop in the quality of graduates. In 2010 a YouGov opinion poll found that 52 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement "too many students are going to university now and it's devaluing degrees".
Worries over the link between widening participation and a perceived decline in graduate quality are still making headlines, most recently during the debate over the appointment of Les Ebdon as head of the Office for Fair Access. Commentators were quick to deride the nature and quality of courses available at the University of Bedfordshire, where Ebdon is Vice-Chancellor, and to brand his approach to access as a ‘model of mediocrity’. So should we be losing faith in
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