Higher Skills, Global Economy

As part of the Politics after Leitch project, we undertook some research into how the agenda for higher education related to broader changes in the global economy. Andrew Gunn (University of Leeds) and I developed this into an article entitled 'Higher skills and the knowledge economy: the challenge of offshoring', which I am pleased to say has just been published in the OECD's journal Higher Education Management and Policy. The paper considers the extent to which offshoring challenges some of the assumptions of policy makers and considers a number of strategies that might be pursued by higher education institutions.

Managing work-based learning

As noted in previous posts, successfully developing and managing work-based learning continues to be identified as a challenging area for higher education institutions. A recent publication by members of the PVC Employer Engagement Special Interest Group entitled University management of work-based learning provides a range of insights into how different institutions have addressed some of the challenges. The report is edited by Freda Tallantyre, published by the Higher Education Academy and well worth a read.

Sociology and Employability

C-SAP have recently published a 60 page report looking at employability and sociology in higher education. "Getting into Work: The Benefits of a Sociology Degree" is written by Max Farrar and Anna Gruszczynska and explores a range of issues such as graduate attributes and the role of community based learning. The relatively high rates of employment for sociology graduates was noted in the 2009 UK Government's Framework for Higher Education 'Higher Ambitions ', so it is useful to see how academics of the subject see the issues.