Views on Policy Issues - Higher Education Provision for
the Science and Engineering Sectors (UK)
What do you think?
Semta represents the view of our employers
across government and the media. If you are an employer in
the science, engineering, or manufacturing technology sectors, we
welcome your views at policy@semta.org.uk
The issues
- There is increasing pressure on Higher Education (HE) to engage
directly with employers to meet their skill needs. HE is
therefore facing a number of challenges, including creating a
successful dialogue with employers, changing its “offer” to reflect
the needs of employers, and securing funding for a range of
activity outside its traditional offer.
- These changes mean non-traditional provision will expand more
sub-degree level courses (many of which will have a “unit credit
value” so an individual can build credit towards a full degree),
more part-time provision and more accreditation of work-based
learning (both in the admissions process and during courses).
- Recent government reports, such as Innovation Nation and
Lord Sainsbury’s “Race to the Top” publication, have urged an
increase in Knowledge and Technology Transfer Partnership activity,
which requires HE to work with industry on specific areas to share
knowledge and resources for mutual benefit.
- Current statistics on students in UK institutions suggest that
a significant proportion (over 30%) of engineering and technology
students are from outside UK. This has implications for
employers wishing to recruit these individuals, as those from
outside the EU must have work permits, etc.
- Engineering, science and technology graduates are much in
demand from other sectors of the economy, and small firms in
particular can struggle to compete with the salaries and graduate
development programmes offered in large firms and other
sectors.
- Only a small percentage of engineering and technology graduates
are employed in education five years after graduation (5%) compared
to physical, mathematical and biological science graduates
(21-24%). This suggests that many physics, maths and biology
teachers do not have much / any workplace industrial experience,
which could make their teaching less inspirational.
Semta Employers View
- There is still potential for HE to improve its dialogue
with employers, by becoming more familiar with the
commercial workplace and its demands. It is essential that
employers and HE “speak the same language” – understanding the
drivers and influences on both, as well as the opportunities and
limitations.
- Employers greatly value work experience in
graduates. They are concerned that the number of “sandwich”
courses and students appears to be falling (the actual numbers of
students taking a “sandwich” year is actually increasing, but fewer
students are enrolling on sandwich courses (see evidence and facts
below). Effective work experience is time consuming to
arrange and manage, and employers would welcome incentives for both
companies and HE institutions to offer this kind of opportunity to
students.
- Engineering employers have long supported progression from
non-traditional routes into higher education. Engineering
Advanced Apprentices have a history of progression
to degree course, particularly in large companies. There is
scope for even more of this kind of progression, if HE is willing
to incorporate flexibilities in delivery. For example, former
apprentices are more likely to require day / block release than
full-time provision, as they will have achieved their Technical
Certificate in this way during their apprenticeship. More
apprenticeship progression will also have an impact on geographical
coverage of certain subjects, if a former apprentice wishes to
remain in their job while studying for a degree, they will need HE
provision within a reasonable distance of their workplace.
What is Semta doing?
- Semta has developed a Higher Education Strategy to articulate
employers’ strategic needs / demands to the higher education
sector. The purpose of this is to accelerate reform within
the HE sector, thus improving HE products and services offered to
undergraduates, graduates and postgraduates.
- Semta and five other SSCs has recently proposed starting
Engineering and Science Regional Forums as the model to engage
employers, higher education institutions and other stakeholders in
the process of solving local skills problems. If approved for
funding, these forums will for the first time give Sector Skills
Councils the resources necessary to work effectively with higher
education other stakeholders (RDAs etc).
- We responded strongly to the government’s Higher Education at
Work - High Skills: High Value consultation, calling for better
careers advice pre and post university, more effective mathematics
teaching in schools, more work with primary level children to
inspire HE study in science and engineering, funded exchange
programmes to improve relations between academia and industry,
funding for sandwich courses, and reform of funding structures to
incentivise HE responsiveness and support academics’ involvement in
industry.
- Semta has developed a Higher Apprenticeship, which incorporates
a Foundation Degree or HND into an apprenticeship framework,
supported by skills-based qualifications at high levels. This
currently funded in Wales.
- Semta has excellent working relationships with the Higher
Education Academy Subject Centres of Engineering, Bioscience,
Physical Sciences, Materials and Mathematics. We use these
relationships to voice employer needs which have been established
through the Sector Skills Agreements and Sector Qualifications
Strategies, to influence curricular development, and to improve the
employability of graduates in these subjects.
- Semta works with the Quality Assurance Agency to review the
benchmark statements which set the standards for degree-level
study.
- In our response to the government consultation, we made it
clear that there should be reform to the funding structures to
incentivise demand-led support in HE. This means giving HE
and employers the funds to start developing the business driven
higher level skills and education products and services that
employers, undergraduates, graduates, and postgraduates demand, and
are subsequently prepared to buy.
- We also recommended more incentives/recognition for academics
who engage with business, sending the message to the HE workforce
that this kind of activity is welcomed and worthwhile.
University career structures and succession plans must give more
importance, currency and priority to relevant job roles where
business / industry knowledge and experience will add value; thus
encouraging staff in these job roles to maintain/improve their
business/industry knowledge and experience via employer
secondments. However, these career structures and succession
planning processes must be transparent to give staff the incentive
to develop this knowledge and experience. Such incentives
would need to be part of existing performance metrics such as the
Research Assessment Exercise and the Teaching Quality
Assessment. Currently, career academics seeking an
international reputation and the kudos that accompanies it need to
publish regularly in high impact scientific journals and to be
picked for the University RAE return. This means their focus
is entirely on this activity, and not on building business
links.
- The government could also ease work permit applications for
those students who have studied in UK universities in key
subjects.
The evidence and facts
Trends in numbers
of first degree graduates – % change year on year [1]
|
|
2003/04
|
2004/05
|
2005/06
|
2006/07
|
|
All students
|
3.4
|
4.9
|
3.1
|
1.0
|
|
Engineering & Technology
|
1.7
|
-1.0
|
1.0
|
0.7
|
|
Biological Sciences
|
9.4
|
4.8
|
2.4
|
4.5
|
|
Physical Sciences
|
-3.9
|
4.5
|
3.0
|
-3.3
|
|
Mathematical Sciences
|
5.8
|
-2.3
|
4.4
|
2.6
|
|
Computer Sciences
|
10.8
|
-0.5
|
-6.2
|
-12.7
|
Examples of the proportion of students in various subjects who
are non-UK domiciled [2]
|
Subject
|
% of 2006/07 cohort non-UK domiciled
|
|
All students in UK institutions
|
14.8%
|
|
Mechanical Engineering
|
28.4%
|
|
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
|
40.3%
|
|
Chemical, Process and Energy Engineering
|
42.4%
|
|
General Engineering
|
29.8%
|
Number of students enrolling on four year degree courses
that involve the student on an industrial or other placement for a
year [3]
|
Students enrolling on any four year, first
degree sandwich course - English higher education institutions -
and the number of students actually on an industrial or other
placement (a) in that year
|
|
Academic year
|
Number of students
|
Of which: number of students on placement
|
|
2001-02
|
91,280
|
(b) —
|
|
2002-03
|
88,285
|
14,295
|
|
2003-04
|
85,620
|
14,375
|
|
2004-05
|
86,090
|
15,015
|
|
2005-06
|
84,000
|
15,190
|
|
(a) Covers students on an industrial (or other
placement).
(b) In 2001-02 students on industrial placements could not be
identified separately from those studying abroad for the year as a
whole.
Note:
Figures are on a HESA standard registration population and are
rounded to the nearest five.
Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
|
Numbers of students enrolling on Sandwich Degree courses has
increased, but the number of these students that decline the offer
of work experience during the course has also increased. So
statistically the enrolment numbers show an increase in students on
these courses but the actual number of students that graduate from
these courses without doing a year in industry has also increased;
actually at a much higher rate than enrolments.
Five years after graduation, 25% of Engineering & Technology
graduates are employed specifically in manufacturing 27% give their current sector of
employment as “real estate, renting and business activities”, but
many of these will be working in engineering consultancies, rather
than the financial sector (which is often blamed for “skimming” the
best engineering graduates on graduation). [4]
More information
Higher
Education consultation and our response
Sainsbury
Review of Science and Innovation: The Race to the
Top
Innovation
Nation - the government's response to the Sainsbury
Review
QAA benchmark statements on subject
standards
Download this Policy View in Word here.
Back to Views on Policy
Issues
9 November 2008
Sources
[1] Summarised from HESA online statistics Table 14a – HE
qualifications obtained in the UK by mode of study, domicile,
gender and subject areas.
[2] HESA online statistics Table 2e - All HE students by level
of study, mode of study, subject of study, domicile and gender
2006/07.
[3] House of Commons Written Answer, Hansard 17 Jan 2007.
[4] HESA Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education
Institutions Longitudinal Survey of the 2002/03 cohort Key Findings
Report Published 2007.