Business and university collaboration essential – CBI
BUSINESSES must work with universities to maintain a competitive advantage according to a report released today.
The CBI-Universities UK report ‘Stepping Higher’ has analysed how business and universities can work together to improve the skills of the workforce.
Of the £33bn spent on training annually, around £5bn could be provided by universities, according to government research.
The report highlights the advantages for businesses of working with higher education to create training programmes which deliver the skills they need, as well as the potential for generating ideas for new products and services.
The study, which was sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), contains case studies of companies successfully working with universities, including car maker Ford and Loughborough University, who together created the world’s first BSc degree in car dealership management.
Richard Lambert, Director-General of the CBI, said: “A strong relationship between business and university sectors is critical to helping the UK maintain competitiveness and the economic downturn makes it even more important for employers to strengthen workforce skills as competitive pressures intensify. Both sides can benefit from collaboration – businesses from new thinking and high quality employees, and universities from practical insights that enrich their teaching and research.
“CBI surveys have shown that employers are not confident that there will be sufficient skilled people available to them in the future to meet their needs. By failing to harness the knowledge and expertise of universities, businesses could be missing out on the chance to get high quality tailor-made training that will help their companies prosper in the longer term.”
A recent CBI survey of more than 600 employers in England found that 55% were worried about future skills shortages.
Professor Rick Trainor, President of Universities UK, said universities were becoming more business friendly but wanted to make it easier for employers to work with them.
He said: “This report makes a persuasive case for why we need more people with the type of higher level skills gained at university, and provides some excellent illustrations of how employers and universities are already working together for their mutual benefit.
“The report highlights some of the areas where universities and employers could each look at doing things differently. In particular, it asks whether universities need to be clearer about how they can add value to businesses and how they can become more accessible to employers. Similarly, the report recommends that employers should aim to articulate better their skills needs and those they are likely to want in the future.”
