Employer Engagement

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has invested over £60 million in employer engagement projects at various institutions within their ‘workforce development programme’. The intention is to increase employer engagement in higher education and to focus in particular on the development and delivery of programmes co-funded by employers.

The University of Southampton has been successful in bidding for some of this funding, for an employer engagement initiative (EEI).The project funding is for two years from August 2008, and it will be used to engage employers more closely in the identification and expansion of professional development opportunities, primarily at masters level.

Working with the appropriate sector skills councils, we will be seeking input from employers in a number of sectors to define the needs of their staff and identify areas for collaboration. At the University we have a rich pool of international research to share and within the EEI we will be working alongside three of our strategic research groups:  Maritime, Ageing and Health Technologies, and Energy as a focus for our engagement with industry and the corresponding sector skills councils.

Most of our Schools are already involved in some short course or professional development delivery, and the project will enable the promotion of these to a wider audience. Our aim is to further develop our capacity to provide cutting edge courses as stand-alone or within a masters level programme.  Importantly, these courses should be delivered flexibly, which should ensure that. This flexibility could take the form of distance learning, intensive week programmes or work based learning. Additionally, our School of Management currently hosts an MSc in Professional Development which should allow a participant to choose a range of study options which matches his or her professional profile.

HEFCE has identified priority areas and activities for support (see table below) and has also commissioned the Centre for Recording Achievement (CRA) to consider e-portfolio practice to support employer engagement and workforce development. 

If you would like more details, or are involved in activities in this area, please contact Mary Morrison 

Web links:

• The Maritime Skills Alliance*
• Energy and Utility Skills *
• Cogent: the SSC including Oil and Gas, Nuclear amd Petroleum Industries*
• Centre for Recording Achievement*

*The University cannot accept responsibility for external web sites.

University news:

• News feeds