www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/universitiesurge -
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Published on: 1/10/2008
Last Visited: 1/21/2008
Brandon Ashworth, head of vocational education and training development and reform at the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA), told PM that universities needed to move into non-traditional markets and develop qualifications that answer the demands of employers.
Ashworth said that with demographic changes meaning fewer 18-year-olds coming out of school and going to university, higher education bodies would need to focus on the needs of the current workforce.
"Part of the problem is that universities don't have the products necessary to meet these workforce needs," he said.
He added that universities would take some persuading: "It would be wrong to assume that everyone in the Russell Group [of research-intensive universities] is going to embrace this.
It's a question of utility.And we are talking about expansion as well - it's not a case of one or the other [academic or vocational development]."
Ashworth was talking ahead of the government's publication, next month, of its higher skills response to the Leitch report, which set a target of 40 per cent of adults to be educated to level four or above by 2020.
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