The skills needs of Scottish businesses are not being met by colleges because funding arrangements are too rigid and formal, a major report published this week will say.
The Napier University Business School report, Responding to skills upgrading needs: the challenge for employers and training providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, was commissioned by the Sector Skills Development Association to investigate the nature of employers’ future skills upgrading needs – and the capacity of local colleges and external training providers to meet them.
The findings are to be announced on Wednesday at a Skills for Business half-day event, at which Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop will be making the keynote speech.
The event, which will be attended by companies such as Aberdeen Asset Management, Aegon, BAE Systems, HBOS and Microsoft, is aimed at taking the Government’s Skills Strategy forward.
The report, which concentrated on the financial services and textile sectors in Scotland, states that policy makers must consider how best to ensure that colleges and other providers are able to deliver the sort of flexible, tailored services required by employers.
It argues that a key barrier to the strengthening of relationships between businesses and colleges is the structure of funding arrangements, which incentivise further education providers to deliver longterm, full-time learning rather than the flexible provision demanded by employers.
Report co-editor Professor Ron McQuaid said: “While many employers are aware of the urgent need to develop their staff so that they can compete ‘higher up the value chain’, they are unsure of the extent to which external training providers, such as further education colleges, can assist in this process.
“Government, funders and other stakeholders need to fundamentally re-consider the role of vocational education and training institutions in ‘embedding a culture of learning’ in the workplace.”
Howard Mackenzie, acting chief executive of the Association of Scotland’s Colleges, responded critically to the report. “As the representative body of Scotland’s colleges, we are somewhat surprised that the authors of this research did not contact us or let us see a copy of this report.
“The report’s knowledge of Scotland’s colleges and of how they operate is questionable – its summary refers to Scotland’s “further education colleges”, which do not exist; Scotland’s colleges provide a mixture of further and higher education – indeed over one quarter of all higher education in Scotland is delivered in colleges. It also describes the funding methodology in Scotland as a key barrier to providing industry training, as it ‘incentivises’ FE providers to deliver long-term, full-time learning rather than the flexible provision demanded by employers.
“This funding methodology is radically different in Scotland than the rest of the UK, and fulfills the remit of Scotland’s colleges to address social inclusion and the needs of 370,000 individuals a year, much more than in other parts of the UK. Colleges provide SMEs with the skilled workforce they require.
“Our mission and focus should not be changed. As we have a very strong social inclusion agenda our public resources are – as they should be – targeted at the individual who needs to update their skills.
“Scotland’s colleges are operating in a growing economy and to the backdrop of unemployment at a 30- year low. Colleges have been capped for seven years and within this climate, we need to look very carefully at the best way to spend funding for the benefit of Scotland. Public money ought to be used to the benefit of individuals who need to update their skills – not to employers who can make their own investment decisions regarding training and development.”
Readers have left 2 comments. 1. Colleges not meeting employers needs...
Robert Sinclair, Unregistered Howard Mckenzie has summed this situation up well however, he has omitted one aspect of college operations. Should any company wish a bespoke programme of training for their staff I am sure that most colleges would be willing to quote on a commercial basis. We have a range of employers who quite happily fund bespoke programmes - there are three under way this week - it is only right that if an employer wants a specific programme that they pay for the development and delivery. 2. Colleges not meeting employers’ skills needs, says report
C Lindsay, Unregistered The report considers the attitudes of employers towards meeting skills needs, including positive examples of the role played by the FE sector in helping employers and individuals to develop skills. The report, "Skills upgrading needs: the challenge for employers and training providers in Scotland and Northern Ireland", can be downloaded at:
www.ssda.org.uk/pdf/070822%20R%20Research%20Report%2026.pdf
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