Matching Business and Education

Prof. John Hobrough

University Director Emeritus

University of Surrey

Purpose of our discussions might be

Developing Education Business Partnerships

Based on research and analysis of the labour market (LMI) and necessary skills

We consider the background

Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the main economic drivers within many countries

Is this so in Uzbekistan? What skills are needed by

employers from graduates?

Education Business Education to provide a research

and training base (See University Model)

Businesses to provide opportunities for joint training, work placements and shared activities with Education which

Enhances the business agenda

Autonomy

Selection Scholarship

Survival

Socialisation

Orientation

ServiceSKILLS

Education includingHigher Education

Education is part of the community Can provide skills training and specific

training programmes (CPD) Can research the social context (including

LMI) Can provide Services – e.g. Careers

support in partnership with CC, Knowledge and technology transfer

Chamber of Commerce Involvement

e.g. North east Chamber of Commerce Largest Chamber in the UK Foundation Degrees (in partnership with HE) Training Programmes Apprenticeship Schemes Work Experience opportunities etc

•Labour Market Information •Skills development for graduates •Personal development planning for company personnel •Education business partnership development •Supervision at the workplace for undergraduates •Career development.

The Partnership needs to understand

Starting with research

What are the main changes in the last ten years which provide a positive future for post soviet and new European countries?

Table 2. Main Positive changes in Higher Education since Perestroika Age range

Positive change Male Female 50+ 35-50 35- RUS BRS KRG LAT BG

No ideology (Autonomy) 13 10 15 9 8 6 5 19 20 International opportunities (Socialisation) 10 9 8 11 11 6 4 12 7 15

IT- modern equipment (Survival) 7 10 7 8 12 12 12 7 8 6

New teaching methods (Orientation) 4 10 4 7 14 13 9 9 5 New standards (quality), examine improvement (Selection) 7 6 4 5 6 4 7

CPD and publishing (Scholarship) 7 6 7 9 4 13

More courses for SMEs (Service), 4 5 4 12 International BA, MA Advanced, modules( Scholarship) 6 4 7 Student and staff exchanges, WEX (skills). 5 7 13

Flexibility, creativity (graduates) 5 5 6

Improved research focus(Orientation) 5 6

Language - English- 4 5 4 Score is indicative of the priority weighting for each attribute. This is calculated by scoring first, second and third choices 3,2

and 1; dividing by the total if all were given as first choice; and then multiplying by 100. Only scores of 4 or more are recorded.

But we need

•Labour Market Information •A Skills audit for trainees and learners

Researching necessary Skills

Companies across selected countries were asked to identify (in order of priority) those skills they thought most important for graduates to have on joining the company

The following table shows the results

BG

RUS

BRS

LAT

KYG

UK

IRL

FIN DK D F SWE

ESP Factor

Work Experience 4 8 2 2 3 6 7 5 2 2 2 6= 8 4.3

Specialist Knowledge

7 1 1 4= 1 - 2 1 - 1 1 2 3 4.5

IT Skills 2 6= 4 6 2 2 1 4 - - - - 2 7.2

Communication 3 4= - 1 5 1 3 9 - - 6 - 7 7.9

Flexibility (Creativity)

1 8= 9 - - 7 - 10 1 3 - - 6 8.8

Qualification - (1)

1 7 - 4 4 4 7 - - 5 8 8.9

Foreign Language

6 - 3 4= 6 - - 2 - 8 10 1 1 9.2

Interpersonal Skills

- - - 8= - 4 6 7 8 6 - - 10 9.3

Team Work 5 6= - 3 - 8 - 5 7 - 8= 4 9.7

Personality (Responsibility)

- 2 6 - - - 6 2 5 5 10 - 10.1

Commercial Awareness

- 9= 5 - 8 - 10 3 4 9 3 8= - 10.8

(NB Factor value developed as a mean value with neutral value of 16 (Mid between 11/20) being given where skill was not indicated in countries top 10)

Key Issues

All countries identified work experience as a main factor for skill development

Expertise – having something to offer Language skills given high importance

in non-English speaking countries Interpersonal Skills - important in

dealing with people, marketing commercial enterprises

. Graduate Skills identified for different Sectors SE-UK

Hospitality and Tourism Health and Medicine IT/Communication

1 Self-presentation and Honesty

Communication IT/Computing

2 Interpersonal Skills Qualification Motivation

3 Communication Flexibility Qualification

4 IT Skills Interpersonal Skills Interpersonal Skills

5 Foreign Language Motivation Work Experience

6 Enthusiasm Technical Skills Communication

7 Flexibility Specialist Knowledge Flexibility

8 Initiative Work Experience Specialist Knowledge

9 Interest Communication Technical Skills

10 Work Experience Well rounded/Organised

Commercial Attitude

Key Issues

Different sectors place different emphasis on skill development

The main “skill set” remains important Graduate development can be analysed

as a “skill model”

WHAT BOSSES WANT - EUOverall, bosses suggested 22 skills or actions that their subordinates shouldpractise, many of which overlapped

‘Develop your interpersonal skills’

33%

‘Get experience: run something’

17%

Sharpen your image’ 13%

‘Act like a leader’ 11%

‘Talk to me’ 11%

‘Clarify where you are going’

8%

‘Provide accurate numbers’

7%

Source: London Business School Sample: 400 senior international managers

Studying labour market requirements for Uzbekistan graduates. Khusanova 2007

HonestyHonesty (100%) (100%) (about corruption??)(about corruption??)

Communication skills and responsibilityCommunication skills and responsibility (96%) (96%)Capacity to efficiently solve problems Capacity to efficiently solve problems (91,6%)(91,6%)ExperienceExperience (87,5%) (87,5%)ICT skillsICT skills (87,5%) (87,5%)Professional education Professional education (83%)(83%)Foreign languagesForeign languages (75%) (75%)RecommendationsRecommendations ( (of top managersof top managers ))– 54%, – 54%, independent external sourcesindependent external sources (41%) (41%)

Work experience is part of this partnership

All businesses in countries sampled want students to have undergone some work experience (practice)

The University should be responsible for the proper supervision of students in the work place

The student is at the centre learning enterprise

Involving Students in Work Experience

Consideration of skills required by SMEs within a European context

What has a student to offer – Research, Knowledge Transfer, innovation

Importance of Language for communication A joint learning experience

•Supervision at the workplace for undergraduates

•A partnership responsibility

Student

Academic

Supervisor

Professional

Supervisor

The need is to have an effective method of communicating with all people in the activity

Student

Academic

Supervisor

Professional

Supervisor

Facilitator

“there is a need for a more structured and methodologically sound programmes of research

into supervision in practice settings so that detailed models of effective supervision can be developed and thereby inform

practice”. Kilminster and Jolly (2000)

•Personal development planning for company personnel and CPD•Career Planning

New Teaching Methods and New Standards

Based now on meeting the needs of the Bologna agreement

Learning Outcomes, Assessment Criteria and Skills analysis.

See typical course description

The Business Improvement Programme

TheBusiness

ImprovementCycle

Education/business/industry partnerships experience Wide spread in UK (e.g. Guildford Consortium) Project in Nizhny Novgorod – Building a

business Centre –(British Council TACL and REAP)

Providing courses for business (Minsk, Murmansk- British Council REAP)

Building Bourgas in Partnership (British Council TRAIL) CC, Town, University

Chambers of Commerce can lead the training process

See North east Chamber of Commerce

Developing Partnerships

Working together Agreeing joint outcomes Sharing opportunity Sharing resources Sharing Training

Joint Research

University Staff and research teams can investigate and research problems associated with industrial and business development

Industry can sponsor such research for their own benefit

Joint (University and Industrial) Projects can be funded from external EU and World Bank sources.

Technology Transfer

Post-Graduates can work in industry and solve problems associated with business development

Industry can provide pointers for further investigation at post-graduate level which could help to move the business forward – and provide appropriate project work for the university team

Technology problems can be solved by working together

What has been learnt already in Uzbekistan?

Relatively low employer expectations regarding the quality of higher education in Uzbekistan

Only 12.5% of respondents collaborate directly with the HEIs on improvement of education quality

Only 40% of respondents considered that such collaboration was needed.

Khustanova 2007

What can we do about it?

“The future never just happens:

It is created” The Lessons of History

So Finally –we need to discuss

whetherResearch Teams from Education and The

Chamber in order to report on LMI, SKILLS audit, Training Programmes for company

developmentPersonal Career development

should be initiated?