News bulletin March/April 08
This bulletin summarises reports and surveys, press releases and newspaper articles under the following headings: education; student issues; and employment. In March and April, various consultations were published. They include one looking at making the UK the world’s leading centre of innovation and another reviewing links between businesses and universities. The Higher Education Policy Institute published a paper examining funding higher tuition fees. Research published in March by Incomes Data Services predicted an increase in graduate recruitment, and the Association of Graduate Recruiters announced a new membership scheme for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Education
- A new university challenge
- Higher education funding announced for Scotland
- Funding Higher Fees
- Making the UK the centre of innovation
- Google’s impact on higher education to be examined
- Funding for workforce development announced
- Retail management degree course unveiled
- Dundee unveils new law degree
- Consultation to look at business-university links
- Skills body joins forces with Universities Scotland
Student issues
Employment
- IDS predicts rise in graduate recruitment
- AGR Briefing Paper on Assessment Centres
- The graduate recruitment challenge
Education
A new university challenge
This document outlines the Government’s plans to develop provision of local higher education. It describes various case studies of how local higher education unlocks people’s talents and drives economic regeneration, and also argues that further education colleges play an important role in developing locally based higher education. The paper also outlines a ‘New university challenge’, which will entail creating 20 new institutions that should, when fully operational, provide places for 10,000 students.
(A new University Challenge: Unloacking Britain's Talent, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, 3 March 2008.)
Higher education funding announced for Scotland
Scotland’s higher education institutions are to receive £1,102 million for teaching, research and capital funding for the 2008/09 academic year. The funding comprises £689.8million for teaching, £279million for research and knowledge transfer, £31million for improvement and other grants, £14.8million for ring-fenced grants and £87.4million for capital funding. The grant, which will be shared among 19 institutions, does not include the allocation of £20 million to HEIs announced by the Scottish Government recently.
(Steady increase for higher education funding, Scottish Funding Council press release, 18 March 2008.)
Funding Higher Fees
This paper argues that England's present system of higher education funding is progressive but, at present, expensive, as it requires no upfront payment and recognises that only those who have benefited from a university education should pay. The study proposes four options: they include: require students to pay part of fee upfront; offer subsidised loans to students to cover cost of fees above £3,000 per year; spread existing level of subsidy across the whole of the higher maximum fee.
(Funding higher fees: Some implications of a rise in the fee cap, J Chester and B Bekhradnia, March 2008.)
Making the UK the centre of innovation
The Department of Innovations, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has published proposals on how to make the UK the world’s leading centre of innovation. The proposals, set out in a White Paper, include doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships between businesses, universities and colleges, and helping support and fund small and medium-sized businesses to work with a university, further education college or research organisation of their choice to develop a new product or service.
(Building an Innovation Nation: Unlocking UK talent, raising productivity, boosting our economy, DIUS press release, 13 March 2008)
Google’s impact on higher education to be examined
A UK-wide inquiry investigating how the use of new technologies by the ‘Google generation’ will shape higher education has been launched. The inquiry will consider the impact of technologies such as social networking and mobile devices on the behaviour and attitudes of learners who are approaching or have just started universities, and the issues faced by universities and colleges. The project has the backing of various institutions, including Universities UK, all four funding councils and the Higher Education Academy.
(Inquiry into impact of Google on HE, Guardian, 29 February 2008.)
Funding for workforce development announced
The Universities of Teeside, Staffordshire and Cumbria, and Worcester College of Technology, have received more than £8million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to develop new relationships with employers to enhance business growth and employee development. Teeside has been awarded £5.1million, Staffordshire £3million to set up a new business centre in partnership with Stoke on Trent College, and Cumbria £188,000 to meet employer needs in policing and supply chain logistics. Worcester College of Technology will work in partnership with the Institute of Payroll Professionals.
(HEFCE provides £8.3 million boost to workforce development, HEFCE press release, 1 April 2008.)
Retail management degree course unveiled
Buckinghamshire New University, one of England’s newest universities, has unveiled a two-year foundation degree in retail management. The course, which has been developed in conjunction with bed company Dreams, incorporates the existing Dreams Training Package and begins in mid-April. The course has been designed according to the guidelines laid down by Foundation Degree Forward, the national body that supports the development and validation of Foundation Degrees, and Skillsmart Retail, the Sector Skills Council that promotes skills development in retail.
(Dreams and Bucks get into bed for degree first, Buckinghamshire New University press release, April 2008)
Dundee unveils new law degree
The University of Dundee is introducing a law degree allowing dual-qualification in Scots and English & Welsh law. From September 2008, students will be able to study all subjects required by each of the respective Law Societies. Dundee, at present, offers separate degrees in Scots or English law but from September students will have the opportunity pick additional modules on each of the courses, counting towards qualification in each jurisdiction.
(University offers combined 'British law' degree, The Lawyer, 10 April 2008.)
Consultation to look at business-university links
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has launched a consultation to build stronger and more flexible links between business and universities. The consultation, Higher Education at Work: High Skills, High Value, will run from 14 April to 7 July. The consultation covers support or incentives that would help colleges and universities extend access to work placements to all students; involving employers in providing careers information and guidance, and how to increase the number of people with the specialist qualifications such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(Consultation launched to strengthen England's high-level skills base, DIUS press release, 14 April 2008.)
Skills body joins forces with Universities Scotland
Universities Scotland, the body representing, promoting and campaigning for the Scottish higher education sector, has signed a three-year agreement with Lifelong Learning UK. The agreement, which runs from 2008 until 2011, aims to continue to work to increase the skills of those working in Scotland’s higher education sector. It will provide a framework with which both organisations can work together to help ensure that Scotland’s universities continue to develop a skilled, well-motivated, flexible and dynamic workforce.
(Universities Scotland and skills body sign collaborative working agreement, Sector Skills Development Agency, 27 February 2008.)
Student issues
Glasgow University announces new scholarships
The University of Glasgow has launched a scholarship scheme for students from developing countries to mark the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme will give 53 students the opportunity to study for a one-year Master’s course at the university. Full support – fees, maintenance and travel costs – will be offered to students from at least 14 Commonwealth countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. The first students are expected to arrive in 2010.
(Commonwealth funding for students, BBC Scotland, 27 February 2008.)
Graduate endowment fee abolished
The Scottish Parliament has voted to abolish the graduate endowment fee, the one-off charge of £2,298 students pay on finishing university. The Scottish Parliament’s approval of the Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill brings with it restoration of free education and means that all current and future students, as well as those who graduated on or after April 1, 2007 will not have to pay the charge.
(Graduate endowment scrapped, Scottish Government press release, 28 February 2008.)
Employment
IDS predicts rise in graduate recruitment
Incomes Data Services’ latest Pay and Progression for Graduates survey shows that employers are anticipating an overall 12.8% increase in the number of graduate recruits. This buoyancy, however, is not shared across all sectors. Both the public sector and finance firms are planning to take on fewer graduates this summer and the average starting salary for first-degree graduates for 2008 is forecast to be £23,800, compared with an average salary of £23,755 in 2007.
(Graduate recruitment 2008: Reasons to be cheerful? IDS press release, March 2008.)
AGR Briefing Paper on Assessment Centres
This paper provides in-depth information to help graduate recruiters understand how to use assessment centres as recruitment tools. It covers the use of assessment centres, criteria for selection, the tests and simulations that are available and how to evaluate the success of assessment centres. It notes that the most commonly used tools in assessment centres are group discussions, ability tests and interviews. Future developments and emerging trends, such as increasing use of technology, sharing of information between past and future candidates, are discussed.
(Assessment Centres: The AGR Briefing Paper Series, AGR, March 2008. The paper is free to AGR members or £20 to non-members. See AGR website for further details)
The graduate recruitment challenge
Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, gave a presentation at the latest Recruitment Society event, in which he noted the factors driving rapid change in the workplace and the changing expectations of businesses and individuals. He called for better education and careers guidance in schools, a more balanced curriculum and better preparation for the world of HE, called on universities to embed employability skills into the curriculum, and urged employers to ‘lose their obsession with 2:1s’ and provide more ‘quality’ work placements.
(UK's graduate recruitment challenge, Ri5 magazine, 20 March 2008.)
AGR unveils membership scheme for SMEs
The Association of Graduate Recruiters, the body representing employers involved in graduate recruitment, is launching a new online membership scheme to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recruit, retain and develop graduates. The online membership package costs £150 + VAT and benefits include access to both summer and winter graduate recruitment surveys, regular news and information and opportunity to participate in issues affecting the sector. The AGR is also launching a detailed guide for smaller firms on attracting and retaining graduates.
(For small businesses wanting to attract the best talent, Online Recruitment, 15 April 2008.)
