{"id":154,"date":"2016-07-04T12:36:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T12:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vc.uwe.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=154"},"modified":"2016-07-04T12:36:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T12:36:05","slug":"the-role-of-universities-is-changing-we-cant-just-focus-on-academia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/the-role-of-universities-is-changing-we-cant-just-focus-on-academia\/","title":{"rendered":"The role of universities is changing – we can’t just focus on academia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span> new wave of students will be graduating over the next few weeks.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be attending award ceremonies knowing they face a challenging future, entering the workplace at a time of turmoil and upheaval.<\/p>\n

But, as the country struggles to resolve its relationship with the EU, one thing we know for sure is that improving UK productivity and competitiveness is now more important than ever. \u00a0\u00a0And that depends on graduates with the right skills and mindset to compete in the high-tech global knowledge economy.<\/p>\n

To succeed, the UK needs a talent revolution.\u00a0 We are going to need over 100,000 new professional scientists, engineers and technologists each year until 2020. We know that 80 per cent\u00a0of new jobs are in high-skill areas, placing universities and our graduates at the heart of the future workforce.<\/p>\n

This week, the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) brought\u00a0out its annual\u00a0UK graduate employability figures.<\/span><\/u><\/a> The results revealed\u00a0that 71 per cent\u00a0of graduates were employed in professional occupations within sixth months of graduating.<\/p>\n

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W<\/span>hen we look at areas with skills shortages, like allied health professions (nursing) and engineering and technology, the figures are 94 per cent\u00a0and 84 per cent\u00a0respectively.<\/p>\n

But this only tells half the story. As universities, we must ensure that students have the underpinning knowledge that is then applied in practice.<\/p>\n

We have to provide an environment where they can use their knowledge in a way that will help them in a work place setting. It is about developing flexible, creative, well rounded individuals.<\/p>\n

Increasingly it\u2019s not good enough just to have the knowledge, you have to be able to apply it in different contexts. We need to equip graduates with the right skills and mindset to drive growth and productivity.\u00a0 Our role is to teach not just the functional skills, but focus on real world learning experiences that allow them to be adaptable, enterprising and ready for work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A<\/span>s universities, we can\u2019t do this in isolation.\u00a0 We need to collaborate with business, the public sector and government to map skill shortages, develop courses and provide internships and work placement opportunities.\u00a0 Universities need to do more to give students real work place opportunities.<\/p>\n

This has led to collaboration with SMEs, industry and the health sector to address the shortage of graduates with specific skills required both nationally and regionally.<\/p>\n

Skills mapping has enabled our\u00a0university to create and expand courses and focus more effectively on particular specialisms.\u00a0 Over the last four years, we have doubled the number of engineering graduates we train and have introduced subjects such as a new forensic computing course to meet the demand for experts in computer crime and cyber security.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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F<\/span>rom research and innovation to mapping the skills of the future, it will be progressive, collaborative universities that will fulfill their role as key drivers of our country\u2019s productivity and economic growth.<\/p>\n

Whatever the future holds for post-Brexit Britain, graduates will require adaptable, transferable talents such as complex problem-solving, entrepreneurialism and emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n

The move should be away from teaching purely functional skills that are outdated almost as soon as they are learned, to focus on real-world learning experiences.<\/p>\n

The new\u00a0generation of graduates need a flexibility of mind that will enable them to cope with uncertainty to make informed decisions and actions.<\/p>\n

This way we can we serve the needs of young people and provide great career opportunities, even though many of them would have preferred to stay in the EU. That\u2019s what I think universities are now for.<\/p>\n

As published by The Telegraph<\/a> 2July 2016<\/em><\/p>\n

To accompany the HESA figures, UWE Bristol has launched ‘The Role Of Progressive Universities In The Global Knowledge Economy’<\/span><\/u><\/a><\/em>. The report calls on universities to forge closer links with business to bridge the skills gap and increase UK productivity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new wave of students will be graduating over the next few weeks.\u00a0 They\u2019ll be attending award ceremonies knowing they face a challenging future, entering the workplace at a time of turmoil and upheaval. But, as the country struggles to resolve its relationship with the EU, one thing we know for sure is that improving … Continue reading “The role of universities is changing – we can’t just focus on academia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-growth","category-employment","category-high-level-skills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/vc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}