Higher education gets practical

Citation

(2000), "Higher education gets practical", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 32 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2000.03732eab.009

Higher education gets practical

Higher education gets practical

Keywords: Higher education, Planning

Planners in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are getting help from a new Guide from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES): Labour Market Information for Higher Education Institutions.

The Guide has been circulated to HEI Vice-Chancellors, planners and strategists and also to senior managers in Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in the UK. To maximise take-up, the guide is also available free of charge on the Internet (http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs).

Universities and other HEIs need intelligence about their home region in order to make a full contribution to regional competitiveness. However, it is generally accepted that regional and local reports (for example from Training and Enterprise Councils) often neglect the interests, needs and contribution of HEIs.

The Guide provides best practice benchmarks in three important areas:

1. 1.

   how HEIs can use regional labour market intelligence (LMI) and other local research to change what they do, and serve regional as well as other needs;

2. 2.

   what types of regional LMI are most valuable to HEIs, and where current reports fail to provide this;

3. 3.

   how HEIs and regional partners (like RDAs and TECs) can work together in this area, as partners.

The Guide was produced after extensive developmental and research work, funded by a consortium of universities, TECs and the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE). Principal author of the Guide, Andrew Maginn, commented:

"There is a gap between the rhetoric and enthusiasm for the regional agenda found at conferences, and the frustrating reality of missing and irrelevant data in regional reports. Through this Guide we want to help fill that gap, by providing practical and realistic ideas for joint work between HEIs and regional agencies such as RDAs and the new Learning and Skills Councils."

Labour Market Information for Higher Education Institutions: A Guide by A. Maginn and S. Dench (Report 363, ISBN 1 85184 292 6) may be purchased, price £15.00, from Grantham Book Services Ltd, Isaac Newton Way, Alma Park Industrial Estate, Grantham NG31 9SD. Tel: 01476 541080; Fax: 01476 541061. Or downloaded in PDF format from the IES Web site: http://www.employment-studies.co.uk/pubs