University of East Anglia and regional employers welcome new plan to help meet future skills needs
By: Communications
The University of East Anglia (UEA) and regional employers have come together behind a major new plan to help more graduates get into good jobs and provide lifelong careers support.
The Future Jobs Roadmap, published today by Universities UK (UUK), with support from Pearson and the British Chambers of Commerce, includes insights from UEA and local businesses following a roundtable event hosted on the University’s campus in Norwich earlier this year.
What is the Future Jobs Roadmap?
The Roadmap responds to the growing challenge facing young people and employers alike. It supports universities to help deliver the high-level skills, graduate talent and growth the country needs. It is estimated that more than 11 million additional graduates are needed to fill high-skilled jobs in the UK between 2020 and 2035.
The Roadmap also responds to the wider pressures facing young people entering the labour market. While graduates are far less likely not to be in education, employment or training (NEET) than non-graduates (about 15% of NEETs aged 16-24 have a degree), the overall number of NEETs recently passed one million for the first time.
How UEA and employers are preparing graduates for future careers
UEA’s roundtable event in spring invited business leaders to discuss key actions to strengthen the local talent pipeline, support key regional industries and keep skilled graduates working in East Anglia.
Professor Claire Pike, UEA’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Student Education and Experience, said: “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to this Future Jobs Roadmap, working closely with business leaders from across our region.
“Higher-level skills are essential for regional growth and prosperity, and UEA has a key role to play in that. We are aligning our courses and our students’ skills ever more closely to business needs – both locally and nationally – and further developing our portfolio of short-course offerings designed to upskill people already in work.”
Key commitments on work placements, AI skills and career support
Key commitments in the Future Jobs Roadmap include:
- An ambition for all undergraduates to have access to meaningful work-based learning by 2035, with a milestone of reaching 50% by 2030.
- Ensuring AI tools are accessible to every undergraduate student and every course has a lecturer who is an ‘AI trailblazer’ so that graduates have the skills to be AI pioneers in the workplace.
- Providing graduates with universal lifetime entitlement to careers support both while they are at university and throughout their career to ensure they are set up for success and can navigate labour market change.
- Expanding employer co-designed learning and modular provision.
- Supporting regional graduate schemes to connect graduates with SMEs.
- Making it easier for employers to engage with universities.
Professor Malcolm Press, President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: "This Roadmap is the result of universities listening carefully to employers about the challenges they face and the skills they need, and responding with action.
"The message we heard was clear: graduates possess significant talent and potential and employers value them highly. But we need to do even more to help students gain workplace experience, develop professional confidence and prepare for a changing economy.
"Universities want to work even more closely with employers, students and government to strengthen opportunities for graduates and support economic growth.”
Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "Giving firms better access to graduates with the right technical and practical skills is a crucial part of unlocking economic growth.
“The Future Jobs Roadmap is full of practical ideas that reflect what businesses are telling us they need, and could make a real difference for both employers and employees alike.
“By closer collaboration between businesses and universities we can get more students workplace ready. Chamber led Local Skills Improvement Plans across England can play a role in that stronger relationship."
The full roadmap can be read online at https://future.universitiesuk.ac.uk/future-jobs/roadmap.
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