Building bridges between universities and employers

30 October 2008

A report published today demonstrates the benefits to employers of building strong partnerships with higher education to produce a highly skilled workforce.

The report, 'Stepping Higher: Workforce development through employer-higher education partnership' was produced jointly by the CBI, Universities UK and HEFCE. It highlights the contribution that higher education can make to workforce development through 13 case studies that explore the challenges and benefits of collaboration between higher education and employers, whether from business and industry or from the public and not-for-profit sectors.

Drawing on the case studies, together with the findings of a recent CBI/Edexcel survey of employers, the report makes recommendations for employers, higher education institutions and Government to improve partnerships and deliver benefits both for employers and for higher education.

The study shows how higher education is changing to be more responsive to employers' needs - through increased flexibility of courses and involvement of employers in curriculum development. It also highlights that there are still barriers to greater collaboration. Not all employers have an up-to-date understanding of what higher education can offer their existing workforce, and higher education needs to make it easier for employers to understand how to work with them. The report also identifies 12 key themes that appear in successful employer engagement activity.

Stepping Higher: Workforce development through employer-higher education partnership

Page last updated 9 February 2012