1. NICEC Seminar, November 2009
Higher education engagement with employers: What works in practice? Helen Connor and Wendy Hirsh
NICEC Seminar, November 2009
Research team: Richard Bolden, Helen Connor, Anthea Duquemin, Wendy Hirsh, Georgy Petrov

2. Policy over the last decade….
Employability and Enterprise
Widening participation
Foundation degrees
Lifelong Learning Networks
Lambert and Leitch Reviews
HEFCE Employer Engagement - workforce development, co-funding (ASNs), regional Higher Skills Pathfinders
EQL
HECIF
Other – eg SSCs, RDAs, KTPd, NSAs, etc

3. Study of specific examples of employer-HE involvement
27 examples examined
Interviews of those involved, often at both HE & employer ends of the relationship
CIHE examples mostly found through employer contacts – national spread, very varied types of involvement
Higher Skills cases – South West & via Higher Skills project – regional, focus more on FDs and WFD
Higher Skills – creative/ cultural; engineering, business improvement (leadership and management)
CIHE – construction & engineering; financial/business services; IT; creative/media
More recently 10 case studies of institutional strategy

4. Diverse examples of engagement
Foundation degree for an IT employer, individuals recruited specially, two years part-time study, HEI local to workplace
Using existing Masters degrees in IT for employees with campus-based work location rented by company
Small design firm working with local college via validation board
Long term strategic partnership in aerospace
Civil engineering industry-led work experience for u/g’s

5. Examples contd
Modules for specialist financial professionals delivered across faculties, later accredited
Improving written English of engineers in workplace
Range of foundation degrees for transport employer with four HEIs
Training courses for public service staff in Islamic culture
Distance learning on business enterprise for small businesses in tourist area

6. Types of engagement influencing teaching & learning
Workforce development for people already in employment, including both ‘reskilling’ and ‘upskilling’
Standard or bespoke courses
Existing or development of new programmes (eg FDs)
Accredited or not
At very wide range of levels of expertise
Accrediting existing workforce development
Employers supporting student ‘employability’
Direct inputs to teaching or materials
Careers work, often linked with recruitment activity
Work experiences/ work placements
Involvement of employers in curriculum development, often linked with wider engagement eg via research

7. Who works with whom? Mapping the links
Other organisations 1 2+
HE Institutions
1. Direct Single HEI - Single employer
2. HE Network/ Partnership Two or more HEIs - Single employer
4. HE-Employer Consortium Two or more HEIs – Two or more employers
3. Employer Group Single HEI – Two or more employers
Employers
5. Sub-contracted Provider network managed through lead HEI
6. Mediated Relationships established and/or maintained by intermediary/broker

8. What helps or hinders effective engagement?
7. Funding
4. Developing, sustaining & leading the partnership 3.
Learning package
1. Strategic fit 6.
Culture & systems
5. Staffing
2. Finding partners
Defining and focussing engagement
Supporting engagement

9. Facilitators and barriers to effective HE-employer engagement
Defining…
2. Finding partners and establishing the relationship
a) Clarity of contact points in HEI
b) Driving interest for the engagement
c) Joint exploration of what is needed
d) Building trust
e) Partnerships must be manageable
1. Strategic fit for the HEI and its partners
a) Alignment with institutional strengths and strategic direction
b) A fit in terms of values, ethos and ways or working
c) A real business need
d) HE best placed as the learning provider
e) Benefits which the intended learners will easily recognise
3. Designing and delivering an appropriate learning package
Supporting…
7. Funding and investment
a) Recognising the real cost of employer engagement
b) Public funding for development
c) Assessing sustainability and financial risk
a) Creative adaptation of existing HE offerings
b) Employers can offer complementary learning experiences
c) Effective development of new or bespoke courses
d) Accreditation where appropriate
e) A learning design suitable for the target group of learners
Facilitators and barriers to effective HE-employer engagement
6. Culture and systems supportive of collaboration
a) Flexible approach to purpose of HE
b) Bridging cultures
c) Time and incentives for engagement built into academic role
d) Financial and administrative flexibility
4. Developing, sustaining and leading
the partnership
a) An academic with passion for the work
b) Collaborative approach
c) Role clarity
d) Ensure buy-in
e) Build in continuity
f) Support at senior levels
g) Need for ongoing leadership
h) Recognise complex leadership needs
5. Staff resourcing and capability
a) Subject knowledge
b) Teaching delivery expertise
c) Customer focus and service orientation
d) Resourcing employer engagement in HE
Sustaining…

10. Framing employer engagement as part of institutional strategy
Institutions on their own evolving journeys
Employer engagement part of core teaching and research missions not ‘third leg’
Needs to meet real needs of both employers & learners: Not ‘selling’ what HEIs think employers should buy
Varied views on desired volume of WFD & importance/ attraction of accrediting workplace learning as distinctive HE offer
Capacity and interest to work with employers? How big a culture shift in HE? Existing staff or new resources, including partners?
Enabling infrastructure eg marketing, data & finance systems
Does the finance of WFD or new programmes make sense? Especially once the pump-priming has gone.

11. Implications for careers work in HE
Centrality of employability skills (teamwork, communication etc.) and increasing commitment to work experience
Articulation of career skills less clear, as is method of delivery of career learning
In some HEIs much increased general contact with employers
Engagement activity often devolved but with central facilitation
Careers services can be central to this and be one key gateway for employers to enter institution for work placements, teaching input, recruitment or even research collaboration
Other careers services can become marginalised by business development/ enterprise/CPD units as main door for employers
Broader skill set for careers people in HE, especially in promoting all aspects of the institution to employers and in complex partnership ventures eg with private sector training providers
Who gives careers advice to employees coming into HE?

12. Reports Influence through Collaboration project at CIHE
Influence through Collaboration – Main report, Summary report and case study library. Helen Connor and Wendy Hirsh, CIHE
Higher skills project at HERDA South West
Employer Engagement with Higher Education: Defining, Sustaining and Supporting Higher Skills Provision
Employer Engagement with Higher Education: A Literature Review (full and summary)
Research led by Richard Bolden at Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter
Website: ttp://
Wendy Hirsh can be contacted at Helen Connor at