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► Bill Rammell's Statement
I want to thank Paul Cullinan for giving me this opportunity to talk to you about HE and Employability today.
I’d also like to thank all the university Job Shop practitioners and work placement officers in the audience for their hard work in helping over 2 million students secure positions which will give them vital work and life experience.
None of us can be in any doubt that the world is changing at a rapid pace. That increased competition, fast moving developments in technology; and global change in climate and demographics are changing our lives, and will continue to do so in the future.
Globalisation poses a unique set of challenges and it presents a new set of opportunities. Let’s take a moment to consider the scale of the challenge before us.
We live in a world of rapid, economic, social and technological change. Currently the UK is a world leader in the global economy but China and India are producing millions of highly skilled graduates every year. As old geographical barriers break down and new markets open up, these countries and other emerging economies are ensuring their workforce has the skill they need to survive and succeed.
This is the global backdrop against which we now live, work and study. Developing the high-value skills HE offers is one of the best ways an individual can overcome these challenges and make the most of these opportunities.
People go to university to gain qualifications to improve their chances of getting a job and to increase their earning potential, but the reasons they love university goes far beyond simple economics. It’s the diverse range of people they meet, the new ideas, approaches, and thinking they come into contact with; and the independence they develop. It’s often these same reasons that influence students’ choices to work whilst at university.
As you may be aware, earlier this year, Sandy Leitch published his report into the long term skills challenge that the UK now faces. His findings set out how formidable ad urgent this challenge is.
To increase productivity; continue to innovate and drive economic growth and social prosperity – we must do more to improve the skills and knowledge of all our workers. Only by equipping our people with world-class, high value skills can we compete and prosper in the global marketplace.
Our Higher Education system is one of our greatest strengths in this fight. Hard work, dedication and excellence have helped to make higher education in the UK a success. In the fields of teaching, learning, and research – our HE institutions are world class.
But if the system is to play a critical role, helping us tackle the skills issue head on effectively, it must adapt to the relentlessly changing economic, social and international climate in which it now operates.
But merely attending university is no longer enough to guarantee a job for life. As Sandy Leitch recognised – we need to be quick to learn, flexible, and highly motivated.
Working whilst at university both develops and proves you have those valuable skills. The part that Job Shops play in helping to support students gain extra income and develop skills valued by employers is clearly recognised by the HE and FE institutions that support such employment services.
HE and FE institutions are also themselves, increasingly working to develop the employability of their graduates. A good example of this would be at Liverpool John Moores University, where they are rolling out the ‘LJMU Plus’ programme. This is about providing and assessing a range of value added ‘world of work’ skills for all undergraduate programmes. But this doesn’t mean that there is less of a need for student employment services.
Employers are not shy about articulating their needs. The Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) recently reported on the capabilities that large employers look for.
The Council highlighted the general skills that most employers want the nations graduates to have. Skills that equip them to be flexible generalists have analytical, communication, team-working, and self-learning capabilities.
The report emphasised that these types of skills were of particular importance in the UK recruitment scene in contrast to many other EU countries.
CIHE suggested the importance of the service sector to the UK economy helped to explain the emphasis on customer facing, presentation, networking and team skills alongside core analytical abilities.
The scope for work experience to allow students to sharpen and practice many of these ‘soft’ skills is clear. But so too is the demand. As Miles Templeman of the Institute of Directors recently acknowledged “there is immense pressure on graduates to hit the ground running.”
As colleagues and universities work to help us tackle the challenges set out by Leitch, the value of Job Shops to these institutions and their students will become even clearer.
The last six years has seen rapid growth in the number of students taking paid work to provide financial support during their studies. Many students choose to work to supplement their income or for other benefits such as valuable experience and a stronger set of skills.
They find that the time spent in a part time job gives them a useful insight into the world of work, fosters a positive attitude and helps them develop the flexibility and skills for employability in the global economy.
Research by the NUS and individual services suggests that depending on where they go to university between 4 and 7 out of 10 students work during term-time. And nine out of ten UK based students work during holidays.
Universities and colleges offer guidance to students on how many hours they can work, without adversely impacting on their education. I strongly encourage students to adhere to that guidance. Work in term time must be balanced against the academic requirements.
I’m pleased NASES recommend students work no more than 15 hours a week, and that officers try to ensure students build up essential skills to support subsequent employment through their part-time jobs.
According to the 2007 UNITE Student Living Report, twoout of five students work an average of 14 hours per week. Employers are generally supportive and accommodating. An approach I think is symptomatic of changing attitudes towards flexible working.
It’s a common misconception that students that work do so under duress, driven into part-time work by a mountain of debt. But the UNITE research found that debt levels, either current or future do not seem to play a students decision in work.
Around four in ten students owing less that £5,000 work, while the same proportion of those owing more than twice that amount also work.
Nearly half of students also said that the main reason they work is to pay for there social lives …new clothes, music or mobile phones, and a quarter of students work to boost their CV.
Far from the Brideshead Revisited stereotype of aristocratic hedonism in leafy cloistered campuses, the majority of today’s students view HE as an investment, a vital step to ensure a good career and future success.
Whilst wearing fraying jeans and eating economy baked beans is still for many a rite of passage, more students are recognising that they can earn a bit of cash whilst developing skills that will put them front of the pack come graduation day.
No student should ever have to lose sleep over money. Our HE student finance teams work hard to ensure potential learners receive factual information on the help they can get.
They work closely with expert organisations in the field such as NASMA and UniAid, and groups such as the Association of Managers of Student Services in HE – whose members offer guidance to students up and down the country.
And we’ll continue to explore ways to support and work with these other organisations to both help students already at university and those thinking about going.
Because there is help available. Its absolutely necessary that young and adult learners know about and can access the substantial financial support that’s out there for them.
The truth is this. No student has to pay there fees either before or whilst they’re studying. So students can study first and pay this money back when they’ve left their course and are earning at least £15,000 a year.
The rate of interest for student loans is well below that of commercial borrowing. As the rate is linked to inflation, students only pay back in real terms the amount they originally borrowed.
The amount of student loans for maintenance, which were based on the Student income and Expenditure data available at that time are calculated to reflect students’ essential living costs. The 2006/7 student loans for maintenance for all students – new and existing – were increased above the rate of inflation.
We’ve re-introduced non-payable grants of up to £2,700 a year for full-time students. And statistics released from the Student Loans Company showed that, as forecasted, around half of new full time students were eligible for a full or partial non-repayable grant in 2006/7.
There’s also a financial package o support for part-time students. And we’re extending the support for young people in care who go to university, by requiring local authorities to provide a minimum £2,000 bursary in addition to the non-payable grant. We also made £64 million available through the Access to Learning Fund.
This is all support available in addition to the millions of pounds being spent by universities and HE colleges in non-repayable bursaries. And I urge people studying at university or thinking about doing so, to find out as much as they can about these bursaries and to apply for the financial support they are entitled to.
Financial management is a key life skills for everyone. We all have to take personal responsibility for how we spend our money.
To ensure we have the world class skills base in this country we need to be compete effectively, we need more people with high valued skills. This means we need more people to study in HE. Many of whom are already in the workforce, or who will need part-time work whilst studying.
Therefore, we need universities employers, and job shops to support those in part-time or full-time work who study, as much as they can. The worlds of work and study cannot and should not be mutually exclusive.
I again want to thank your organisation for your hard work and commitment. It’s critical we give more people the chance to succeed in HE and I’d like to finish by asking you to keep up the good work. Thank you.
