higher education and the current skills agenda alan gilbert commissioner, ukces president and...
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Higher Education and the current skills agenda
Alan Gilbert
Commissioner, UKCES
President and Vice-Chancellor
The University of Manchester
A framework for skills and jobs
Match
Mismatch
Positive Economic and Social Outcomes
Supply of Skills Employment Demand
Negative Economic and Social Outcomes
DemandJobsSupply
A framework for skills and jobs
Match
Mismatch
Positive Economic and Social Outcomes
Supply of Skills Employment Demand
Negative Economic and Social Outcomes
Economic Performance
Employment
Reduced Inequality
Productivity
Demand
JobsSupply
•Shortages and skills gaps
•Unemployment and Inactivity
•‘Over-skilled’ / ‘Under-employed
•Migration
Robert Reich (1992), The Work of Nations
• 40% of a post-industrial workforce would be made up of “knowledge workers” (symbolic analysts)
• Access to high quality knowledge workers would be the primary determinant of success for corporations and nations in the 21st Century
• Relying on poaching other people’s knowledge workers would be a grossly irresponsible, high risk national policy
UK Skills Formation in Context
UK Commission on Employment and Skills,
Working Futures 2007-17
(January 2009)
UK Workforce Change 2007-2017:Major growth in high level skills
-500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
Whole workforce
Elementary Occupations
Machine & Transport Operatives
Sales & Customer Service
Personal Service
Skilled Trades
Admin, Clerical & Secretarial
Assoc Professional & Technical
Professionals
Managers & Senior Officials
(Thousands)Expansion demand Overall demand
13,451
Source: UKCES, Working Futures 2007-17, January 2009
Over 100% of all
expansion demand
The UK Qualifications Profile 1997-2007:Good progress over last decade!
UK Qualification
Achievement
1997 2007 1997-2007 Change
1997 – 2007 % Nos (‘000s)
% Nos (‘000s)
% Nos (‘000s)
Level 5 3 1087 7 2274 110 +1187
Level 4 18 6101 24 8060 32 +1959
Level 3 18 5999 20 6738 12 +739
Level 2 21 6865 20 6912 1 +47
Below Level 2 21 7074 17 6019 -15 -1055
No Qualifications
18 5920 12 4351 -26 -1569
+40%
-26%
Source: Labour Force Survey, 2008 – Note: Working age population 19 – 59/64
Productivity and employment in OECD:Where are we now?
High employment/ high
productivity
High employment/ low
productivity
Low employment/ low productivity
Low employment/ high productivity
Productivity: GDP per hour worked (US$ at current prices), 2007
Em
plo
ym
en
t:
Em
plo
yme
nt
po
pu
latio
ns
ratio
20
07
, a
ll p
ers
on
s 1
5-6
4
Source: UKCES, Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK, 2009, pp 21-22
Productivity:UK 11th place
Population with tertiary education, 2006
0%
20%
40%
60%
Canad
a
Japa
n
Korea
New Z
eala
nd
Norway
Irela
nd
Belgi
um
Denm
ark
Franc
e
Spain
United S
tate
s
Austra
lia
Sweden
Finla
nd
United K
ingdo
m
Nethe
rlands
Luxem
bourg
Icela
nd
Switzer
land
Poland
Greec
e
Germ
any
Hungar
y
Portuga
l
Austria
Mex
ico
Slova
k Rep
ublic Ita
ly
Czech
Rep
ublic
Turke
y
25-34 year olds 45-54 year olds
The competition is global:Improvements are too slow at tertiary level
Source: OECD, Education at a Glance 2007. Table A1.3a
UK Position:• 12th in OECD for ‘older workers’• 15th in OECD for ‘younger workers’
Overall Commission Assessment1. Good progress over ten years to 2006-07
• Solid employment and productivity positions – but not yet top 8 OECD• High level skills improved by more than third• ‘No qualifications’ cohort reduced by more than a quarter• Literacy improvements are excellent• Performance changes and plans since 2006 offer cause for optimism
2. BUT … progress by many international competitors to 2006 has been better
• UK productivity slowly improving, employment good but slightly declining• Skills improvements by many nations exceeding rate of UK change• International challenge will increase as all governments prioritise skills
3. Foundations of policy recommendations already in place or on the way
• Integrated policy/strategy for business development, employment and skills• More strategic, agile, demand-led employment and skills supply side• Maximising individual aspiration and opportunity for skills• Increasing employer ambition, engagement and investment in skills• Support for community level action to maximise skills and employment to close
gaps
Higher Education Skills Formation
• At worst seen as precious, arrogant and supply side (“Don’t worry, we already cover all those skills.” )
• Graduates (ambivalently) seen as “world class” and regarded by many employers as being deficient in key employability skills.
• Many examples of emerging good practice.
The “baby and bathwater” problem
• There IS a proper tension between an authentic university and employers, politicians and policy makers
• Destroy it any you’ve lost something precious
The “baby and bathwater” problem
A University PRESERVES and TRANSMITS knowledge;
It CRITIQUES and CHALLENGES conventional paradigms;
It INVENTS new ideas and technologies and ADVANCES knowledge;
It TRANSFORMS current ideas of best practice; and
It FRUSTRATES and (sometimes) ENRAGES those with day-to-day economic responsibilities.
The “baby and bathwater” problem
We must preserve those profoundly creative, transformational functions of higher education; BUT
We must show precisely the same rigour in CRITIQUING ourselves;
Instead, universities can be arrestingly complacent and conservative; and
At present, the best evidence is that UK higher education is performing sub-optimally in relation skills formation.
The Manchester ResponseAIMS:• Superb U/G and P/G degree qualifications
combining authentic education (hyper-competencies) with superb skills formation (higher competencies), conducted in professional contexts if possible; AND
• Superb executive education and CPD:- demand-driven- bespoke- flexible delivery
The Manchester Response
U/G Degree Programmes:
Piloting the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR)
Transforming U/G curricula in ways that are explicitly purposeful in relation to skills formation.
The Manchester ResponseWe have adopted a curriculum design template:
THE PURPOSES OF A MANCHESTER UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
The “Manchester Matrix”
Every unit and every programme must set out explicitly in advance what educational purposes are being served, what particular skills are being developed and how these purposes and skills are going to be assessed.
THE PURPOSES OF A MANCHESTER UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
1. To develop critical thinking and higher order conceptual reasoning and analytical skills
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged to develop intellectual curiosity, will have learned how to learn, will have a clear grasp of the fundamental differences between fact and opinion, truth and falsity, validity and invalidity, and will have acquired the basic intellectual tools of logical analysis and critical inquiry.
Logical reasoning
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
THE PURPOSES OF A MANCHESTER UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
1. To develop critical thinking and higher order conceptual reasoning and analytical skills
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged to develop intellectual curiosity, will have learned how to learn, will have a clear grasp of the fundamental differences between fact and opinion, truth and falsity, validity and invalidity, and will have acquired the basic intellectual tools of logical analysis and critical inquiry.
Logical reasoning
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
2. To promote mastery of a discipline
Manchester graduates will have mastered the epistemological, methodological and essential knowledge base of at least one discipline or taught in the University, acquiring a basic understanding of the processes of inquiry and research through which existing paradigms are evaluated and new knowledge created in that discipline or disciplines.
Knowledge
Epistemology
Methodology
Comprehension
Application
THE PURPOSES OF A MANCHESTER UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
1. To develop critical thinking and higher order conceptual reasoning and analytical skills
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged to develop intellectual curiosity, will have learned how to learn, will have a clear grasp of the fundamental differences between fact and opinion, truth and falsity, validity and invalidity, and will have acquired the basic intellectual tools of logical analysis and critical inquiry.
Logical reasoning
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
2. To promote mastery of a discipline
Manchester graduates will have mastered the epistemological, methodological and essential knowledge base of at least one discipline or taught in the University, acquiring a basic understanding of the processes of inquiry and research through which existing paradigms are evaluated and new knowledge created in that discipline or disciplines.
Knowledge
Epistemology
Methodology
Comprehension
Application
3. To broaden intellectual and cultural interests
Manchester graduates will be encouraged to value knowledge for its own sake, and to appreciate virtuosity and creativity, whether in art, music, literature or any other medium through which human discourse and human culture are advanced and enriched.
Intellectual curiosity
Cultural awareness
Understanding of the historical development and cultural context of particular traditions, disciplines or bodies of knowledge
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
4. To prepare graduates for professional and vocational work
Manchester graduates in professional disciplines will have the knowledge and advanced technical skills demanded in an increasingly sophisticated and rapidly changing professional workplace, and will have been provided with opportunities to develop accompanying skills of initiative, teamwork and professional communication.
Professional Knowledge
Professional Skills
Professional Qualities
Communication and Team Work
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
4. To prepare graduates for professional and vocational work
Manchester graduates in professional disciplines will have the knowledge and advanced technical skills demanded in an increasingly sophisticated and rapidly changing professional workplace, and will have been provided with opportunities to develop accompanying skills of initiative, teamwork and professional communication.
Professional Knowledge
Professional Skills
Professional Qualities
Communication and Team Work
5. To challenge and equip students to confront personal values and make ethical judgements
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Ethical awareness
Grasp of ethical principles
Awareness of relevant professional ethics
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
4. To prepare graduates for professional and vocational work
Manchester graduates in professional disciplines will have the knowledge and advanced technical skills demanded in an increasingly sophisticated and rapidly changing professional workplace, and will have been provided with opportunities to develop accompanying skills of initiative, teamwork and professional communication.
Professional knowledge
Professional Skills
Professional Qualities
Communication and Team work
5. To challenge and equip students to confront personal values and make ethical judgements
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Ethical awareness
Grasp of ethical principles
Awareness of relevant professional ethics
6. To prepare graduates for citizenship and leadership in diverse, global environments
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Awareness of social, political and environmental issues
Sense of social responsibility
Leadership skills
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
4. To prepare graduates for professional and vocational work
Manchester graduates in professional disciplines will have the knowledge and advanced technical skills demanded in an increasingly sophisticated and rapidly changing professional workplace, and will have been provided with opportunities to develop accompanying skills of initiative, teamwork and professional communication.
Professional knowledge
Professional Skills
Professional Qualities
Communication and Team work
5. To challenge and equip students to confront personal values and make ethical judgements
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Ethical awareness
Grasp of ethical principles
Awareness of relevant professional ethics
6. To prepare graduates for citizenship and leadership in diverse, global environments
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Awareness of social, political and environmental issues
Sense of social responsibility
Leadership skills
7. To develop advanced skills of written and verbal communication
Manchester graduates will be equipped with advanced skills of written and verbal communication, and will be able to present complex material, orally and/or in written reports and formal presentations, in ways that are professional, engaging and persuasive.
Ability to express ideas and arguments accurately and cogently.
Excellence in written communication
Experience in making formal presentations
Purpose Graduate Attributes/Skills Assessment Criteria
5. To challenge and equip students to confront personal values and make ethical judgements
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Ethical awareness
Grasp of ethical principles
Awareness of relevant professional ethics
6. To prepare graduates for citizenship and leadership in diverse, global environments
Manchester graduates will have been encouraged and enabled to confront their own civic values and responsibilities as local, regional and global citizens.
Awareness of social, political and environmental issues
Sense of social responsibility
Leadership skills
7. To develop advanced skills of written and verbal communication
Manchester graduates will be equipped with advanced skills of written and verbal communication, and will be able to present complex material, orally and/or in written reports and formal presentations, in ways that are professional, engaging and persuasive
Ability to express ideas and arguments accurately and cogently
Excellence in written communication
Experience in making formal presentations
8. To promote equality and diversity
Manchester graduates will have been educated in an environment that embraces and values cultural diversity, and that is fundamentally committed to equality of opportunity regardless of gender, race, disability, religious or other beliefs, sexual orientation or age.
Human rights – theory, policy and legislation
The cultural reality of discrimination
The economics of inequality