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Business and education is crucial partnership

Businesses and education authorities must work together to ensure the UK remains at its competitive edge, it has been claimed.

According to the CBI, universities should be doing more to tap into the £33bn spent on training every year. The lobby group’s latest report, ‘Stepping Higher’, suggests ways in which universities can tap into this market by making themselves more accessible to business. For example, running courses on employers’ premises, outside normal term time and adapting teaching styles to new audiences.

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.”

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: “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.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .