‘Employability’ Closing the Skills Gap with Higher Level Training


Malcolm Fox, RAE Visiting Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Bradford, R&D Manager, Nylacast Ltd., Leicester;


‘Employability’1 is a central part of Government education and training policy to reduce the UK skills gap. It has several facets, in one part it measures graduate suitability for subsequent employment, at six months and forty months after graduation. It is one parameter in the forthcoming ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’, or TEF, assessment of universities and colleges, commencing next year. TEF is the teaching measurement analogous to research in the recent ‘Research Excellence Framework’, or REF. Preliminary assessments appear to show that TEF will have a considerably different university and college ranking order than REF! Employability has been growing as part of Government education and skills policy for the past ten years.


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Graduate employment data shows that one measure of Employability is working, Figure 1 compares graduate employment for 2011/12 and 2013/14 for each university and college. The overall highest average band has moved up from 88-94% in 2011/12 to 94-96% in 2013/14; the earlier results show a significant tail, 34, of educational institutions below the average, later results for 2014 show a significant improvement, with a reduced tail of only three institutions below the 88% band.


Another side to ‘Employability’ is the corollary of tuition fees; a 3 or 4 year graduate will have debt of £29-38,000 for tuition fees alone and almost all expect employment. Graduate preparation for employment will be crucial in gaining the quality job they expect; it will also aid paying back their student loan.


LUBE MAGAZINE NO.136 DECEMBER 2016


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