HEFCE to provide £105 million to expand employer engagement courses

21 February 2008

HEFCE will provide at least £105 million over the next three years to support the development of courses where the cost is jointly shared by the individual, the state and the employer.

Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive of HEFCE, told the Conference of Northern Universities that HEFCE, through its support of universities and colleges, was on track to create 5,000 new places part-funded by employers by 2008-09. The target would then be raised to at least 10,000 new entrants in 2009-10 and a further 20,000 in 2010-11.

He said:

'This is not an agenda with which universities are unfamiliar. This is in part about a rediscovery of roots and a vision deeply etched in universities' history. That so many universities and colleges are already engaged with employers is no accident. It reflects their refreshed mission; and for many it is now part of their core business.'

Professor Eastwood told the conference at the University of Teesside, that funding from the earmarked employer engagement stream worth at least £105 million could be used in a range of ways to help a university or college change its work with employers, including paying for new infrastructure including ICT, or training staff. In return, a provider would need to agree to achieve a significant level of new co-funding from employers.

Professor Eastwood said that further to working with employers on the development of higher skills in the workforce, universities have increasingly developed important relationships with business through research:

'Their blue skies thinking helps develop real innovations. Working with industry and services, the private and public sectors, researchers provide innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.'

The recent grant letter from the Department for Universities Innovation and Skills confirmed the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) round four, with funding rising to £150 million a year by 2010. HEIF funding was already supporting the capacity in all universities to respond to the needs of business, according to their own strategies and strengths.

Professor Eastwood paid tribute to the power of universities in the north of England to engage and to drive economic activity, to renew social capital, and to transform cities and regions:

'Regional development agencies here have understood this, with myriad partnerships with us and universities. From regeneration in Burnley, Barnsley, and Blackpool, to creating a dynamic new institution in Manchester, and to the long-standing and much-valued collaborations in Yorkshire, agencies have invested in universities precisely because of the power of their economic interfaces and the quality of their relationships with employers.'