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Business must do more to help higher education system

Businesses must do even more than they already do to work with universities and the government to help maintain the UK’s international competitiveness, a major new report says today.

The report, the culmination of a year’s work by the CBI Higher Education Task Force - comprising both business and universities - also says that the rapid rise in student numbers, coupled with a severe strain on public finances, makes current public funding levels unsustainable.

The UK compares quite favourably with similar countries on how many young people go to university, and undergraduate numbers have risen by 35 per cent since 1997. However, the proportion of UK graduates taking science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) degrees has declined by 20 per cent since 1999-2000, and the CBI wants to see more young people to continue with these subjects after the age of 16.

Sam Laidlaw, Chairman of the CBI HE Task Force and CEO of Centrica, said: “Effective collaboration between the higher education sector, business and government will be critical to the UK’s economic recovery and sustainable international competitiveness. Business must also make a sustained effort in supporting higher education. To this end, I am pleased that as a Task Force we have made a strong commitment to provide the support needed to help students build the employability and technical skills that are so important.”

Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General, said: “Maintaining a world-class higher education system is vital to the UK’s future competitiveness, and we should sustain current levels of investment in teaching and research, which are low by international standards. Strong leadership is also needed to minimise the risk of long-term decline.

“The Task Force argues that more should be done to prepare students for the world of work, and teach them the generic skills that will help smooth their pathway into employment.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .