Transcript Employer Engagement with Higher Education

Higher education engagement with employers:
What works in practice?
Helen Connor and Wendy Hirsh
NICEC Seminar, November 2009
Research team: Richard Bolden, Helen Connor, Anthea
Duquemin, Wendy Hirsh, Georgy Petrov
Policy over the last decade….
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Employability and Enterprise
Widening participation
Foundation degrees
Lifelong Learning Networks
Lambert and Leitch Reviews
HEFCE Employer Engagement - workforce
development, co-funding (ASNs), regional Higher Skills
Pathfinders
EQL
HECIF
Other – eg SSCs, RDAs, KTPd, NSAs, etc
Study of specific examples of employer-HE
involvement
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27 examples examined
Interviews of those involved, often at both HE & employer ends
of the relationship
CIHE examples mostly found through employer contacts –
national spread, very varied types of involvement
Higher Skills cases – South West & via Higher Skills project –
regional, focus more on FDs and WFD
Higher Skills – creative/ cultural; engineering, business
improvement (leadership and management)
CIHE – construction & engineering; financial/business services;
IT; creative/media
More recently 10 case studies of institutional strategy
Diverse examples of engagement
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Foundation degree for an IT employer, individuals
recruited specially, two years part-time study, HEI local
to workplace
Using existing Masters degrees in IT for employees with
campus-based work location rented by company
Small design firm working with local college via
validation board
Long term strategic partnership in aerospace
Civil engineering industry-led work experience for u/g’s
Examples contd
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Modules for specialist financial professionals delivered
across faculties, later accredited
Improving written English of engineers in workplace
Range of foundation degrees for transport employer
with four HEIs
Training courses for public service staff in Islamic
culture
Distance learning on business enterprise for small
businesses in tourist area
Types of engagement influencing teaching &
learning
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Workforce development for people already in employment,
including both ‘reskilling’ and ‘upskilling’
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Standard or bespoke courses
Existing or development of new programmes (eg FDs)
Accredited or not
At very wide range of levels of expertise
 Accrediting existing workforce development
 Employers supporting student ‘employability’
 Direct inputs to teaching or materials
 Careers work, often linked with recruitment activity
 Work experiences/ work placements
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Involvement of employers in curriculum development, often
linked with wider engagement eg via research
Who works with whom? Mapping the links
6. Mediated
HE Institutions
Relationships established and/or
maintained by intermediary/broker
2. HE Network/
Partnership
4. HE-Employer
Consortium
Two or more HEIs - Single
employer
Two or more HEIs – Two or
more employers
2+
1. Direct
3. Employer Group
Single HEI - Single employer
Single HEI – Two or more
employers
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1
2+
Employers
5. Subcontracted
Provider network
managed through
lead HEI
What helps or hinders effective engagement?
2.
Finding
partners
1.
Strategic
fit
3.
Learning
package
Defining and focussing
engagement
4. Developing, sustaining &
leading the partnership
7.
Funding
5.
Staffing
6.
Culture &
systems
Supporting engagement
Defining…
1. Strategic fit for the HEI and its partners
a) Alignment with institutional strengths and strategic direction
b) A fit in terms of values, ethos and ways or working
c) A real business need
d) HE best placed as the learning provider
e) Benefits which the intended learners will easily recognise
2. Finding partners and establishing
the relationship
a) Clarity of contact points in HEI
b) Driving interest for the engagement
c) Joint exploration of what is needed
d) Building trust
e) Partnerships must be manageable
3. Designing and delivering an
appropriate learning package
Supporting…
7. Funding and investment
a) Recognising the real cost of
employer engagement
b) Public funding for development
c) Assessing sustainability and financial
risk
6. Culture and systems
supportive of collaboration
Facilitators and
barriers to effective
HE-employer
engagement
a) Flexible approach to purpose of HE
b) Bridging cultures
c) Time and incentives for engagement built into
academic role
d) Financial and administrative flexibility
5. Staff resourcing and capability
a) Subject knowledge
b) Teaching delivery expertise
c) Customer focus and service orientation
d) Resourcing employer engagement in HE
a) Creative adaptation of existing HE
offerings
b) Employers can offer
complementary learning experiences
c) Effective development of new or
bespoke courses
d) Accreditation where appropriate
e) A learning design suitable for the
target group of learners
4. Developing, sustaining and leading
the partnership
a) An academic with passion for the work
b) Collaborative approach
c) Role clarity
d) Ensure buy-in
Sustaining…
e) Build in continuity
f) Support at senior levels
g) Need for ongoing leadership
h) Recognise complex leadership needs
Framing employer engagement as part of
institutional strategy
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Institutions on their own evolving journeys
Employer engagement part of core teaching and research
missions not ‘third leg’
Needs to meet real needs of both employers & learners: Not
‘selling’ what HEIs think employers should buy
Varied views on desired volume of WFD & importance/ attraction
of accrediting workplace learning as distinctive HE offer
Capacity and interest to work with employers? How big a culture
shift in HE? Existing staff or new resources, including partners?
Enabling infrastructure eg marketing, data & finance systems
Does the finance of WFD or new programmes make sense?
Especially once the pump-priming has gone.
Implications for careers work in HE
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Centrality of employability skills (teamwork, communication etc.)
and increasing commitment to work experience
Articulation of career skills less clear, as is method of delivery of
career learning
In some HEIs much increased general contact with employers
Engagement activity often devolved but with central facilitation
Careers services can be central to this and be one key gateway
for employers to enter institution for work placements, teaching
input, recruitment or even research collaboration
Other careers services can become marginalised by business
development/ enterprise/CPD units as main door for employers
Broader skill set for careers people in HE, especially in promoting
all aspects of the institution to employers and in complex
partnership ventures eg with private sector training providers
Who gives careers advice to employees coming into HE?
Reports
Influence through Collaboration project at CIHE
Influence through Collaboration – Main report, Summary report and case study
library. Helen Connor and Wendy Hirsh, CIHE http://www.cihe-uk.com
Higher skills project at HERDA South West
Employer Engagement with Higher Education: Defining, Sustaining and
Supporting Higher Skills Provision
Employer Engagement with Higher Education: A Literature Review (full and
summary)
http://www.herda-sw.ac.uk
Research led by Richard Bolden at Centre for Leadership Studies, University of
Exeter
Email: [email protected], Website: ttp://www.exeter.ac.uk/leadership
Wendy Hirsh can be contacted at [email protected], Helen Connor at
[email protected]