HEFCE Chief Executive highlights Teesside's employer-led agenda

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is to provide at least £105m over the next three years to support the development of courses where the cost is jointly shared by the individual, the state and the employer

Professor David Eastwood, Chief Executive of HEFCE, made the announcement on 21 February at the University of Teesside, which was hosting the Conference of Northern Universities.

Professor Eastwood said that HEFCE, through its support of universities and colleges, was on track to create 5,000 new places part-funded by employers by 2008-09. The target would then be raised to at least 10,000 new entrants in 2009-10 and a further 20,000 in 2010-11.

Professor Eastwood said: ‘When people ask what ‘employer engagement’ means in a modern setting, I could start by pointing them to your own work here at the University of Teesside.

• Your Department of Health-funded digital X-ray management training programme that your School of Health & Social Care runs with Agfa, the camera film company, where you gave honorary lecturer status to two experienced radiographers, who then ensured that what they learned was taught more widely within their NHS organisations.
• Your modular management training programme for Sainsbury’s and its Bells convenience stores fitted in around supermarket managers’ 45-hour weeks and which accredited the company’s existing ‘in house’ programme.
• The foundation degree course that you have developed with Cleveland Police and West Mercia Constabulary, with a mock courtroom, crime scene house and mock police station on campus.’

He added: ‘This is not an agenda with which universities are unfamiliar. This is in part about a rediscovery of roots and a vision deeply etched in universities’ history. That so many universities and colleges are already engaged with employers is no accident. It reflects their refreshed mission, and for many it is now part of their core business.’

Professor Eastwood told the conference that funding from the earmarked employer engagement stream worth at least £105m could be used in a range of ways to help a university or college to change its working with employers. These include paying for new infrastructure including ICT, or training staff. In return, a provider would need to agree to achieve a significant level of new co-funding from employers.

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