BY THE WATER COOLER PERSPECTIVES
The employer Kate Croucher, FDM
The university Tim Reed, Kent University
Skills
development – who is
responsible?
University perspective
A
ccording to John Allan, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, quoted in an article on ‘The Skills Gap’ in the Daily Telegraph on 23 July 2015: “Firms will always have a responsibility to train staff to meet the needs of their specific business, but there is a clear case for the education system to get better at preparing young people for life beyond the classroom.”
There is a need for both the employment and the education sectors to contribute to skills development in the UK. It is also important, however, that individuals – and in this case I am referring to students in Higher Education – take responsibility for themselves.
While students are responsible for developing their own skills, the support and contribution of Higher Education institutions, training providers, employers, volunteering agencies and others is crucial. Developing a skillset aids how career choices are made, provides content for CVs and applications, helps define clear USPs and meets the expectations of recruiters. Work placements
are fundamental to the acquisition of skills. Education is essential, but placements and part-time or vacation employment help to develop skills that are practised in a work- based setting.
At the University of Kent students are encouraged to take responsibility for their skills development. Kent has begun the process of establishing a set of key graduate attributes comprising qualities which can be regarded as characteristic of its graduates and will be developed during students’ time at Kent. These attributes include Creativity and Innovation, Global/Cultural Awareness and Integrity and Accountability. Each attribute is supported by an associated set of employability skills denoting an ability and/or capacity acquired through deliberate and sustained effort. Students have access to a range of provision to help them develop these skills, both within the curriculum and outside it, but they choose for themselves what they wish to develop skills in.
Developing some core abilities makes a lot of sense. For example communication, adaptability and digital skills can be applied
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to many different personal, social and work settings. Digital skills, in the context of the growing digital economy, are of particular significance. Kent provides a range of initiatives supporting students in their development of skills. This demonstrates its university-wide approach to student employability.
Tim Reed, Head of Careers and Employability at the University of Kent
...Work placements are fundamental to the acquisition of skills. Education is essential, but placements and part-time or vacation employment help to develop skills that are practised in a work-based setting.
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