Task force looking at education

Sep 23 2008 by Liz Smith, The Journal

BUSINESS and university leaders got together this week to put the future of higher education under the spotlight.

The CBI’s Higher Education (HE) Task Force – under the leadership of Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica – will explore what business wants from higher education, how business and universities can best work together, and how the sector should be funded.

The Government has an explicit agenda to increase the proportion of higher level skills of those already in the workforce.

This includes a drive to increase the role business plays in improving skills, for example getting employer training to lead to qualifications. This is one key driver behind the HE Task Force being set up, to make clear what business wants from higher education, and what it is prepared to resource.

All three political parties are currently reviewing higher education policy, with the Government expected to publish its vision for higher education next year, and the future of tuition fees potentially under review.

As developing economies take advantage of lower cost bases, the UK can no longer compete internationally on low skilled sectors. Our research shows intensive sectors can only be sustained by a thriving university research capability in which innovation is encouraged, requiring an inflow of talented researchers. But what will it actually take to improve our higher level skills?

The number of people going to university has increased greatly over the last three decades – there were 270,000 new entrants in 2006/7 aged 17-30, with a total participation rate for this age group of 40%. This makes the quality and cost of HE provision all the more important.

Business knows that a vibrant, dynamic higher education sector is crucial to the future of the UK economy and in the last few years universities have made good progress building bridges with business. As well as examining if businesses and universities are getting the most out of working together, the CBI’s task force will report in June 2009 on what business wants to get out of universities going forward.

To make its recommendations, the CBI Task Force will conduct new research and will be drawing on the experience of the Task Force and other CBI member companies. The new group comprises 18 leading businesses and universities from a range of sectors and specialisms, and includes Nissan, represented by senior vice-president Trevor Mann.

Liz Smith is deputy regional director of the CIB