Skills Conference to outline benefits of business and education working together
Preparations are well under way for the third Warwickshire Skills Conference for business and education leaders in March.
The conference, organised by Warwickshire County Council's Skills for Employment programme, will take place at Chesford Grange Hotel, near Leamington Spa, on Monday 13 March from 8am-10am (breakfast included).
The focus will be on outlining the financial benefits to business and education of collaboration and highlighting the types of activity that have the most impact. Last year the conference, attended by more than 80 business and education leaders, generated excellent feedback. You can book your free place for this year's event here.
The benefits to businesses of working closely with education-providers are well-proven. A recent ACAS report stated that it costs around £5,000 every time a business recruits a new member of staff using traditional external recruitment methods or an agency. Direct recruitment from a school or college costs a fraction of that amount.
One of the businesses already employing this approach is Alumet Systems UK, based in Southam. The firm is working with Southam College which received a grant from Warwickshire County Council to develop the employability skills of students and support local businesses.
Janice Amey, HR Manager at Alumet, said: “As a specialist company in construction it’s getting even harder to attract people with the right skills, particularly as a small business in a rural area. By working with a local education provider, students are recognising the opportunities available on their doorstep and we have an opportunity to grow our own highly skilled workforce.”
For more information about the conference on March 13, or to find out how your business could work with a local education provider, please email:
skillsforemployment@warwickshire.gov.uk or call 01926 418027.
Similarly, please use those contacts details to find out more about any of the Skills for Employment initiatives. Since the Skills for Employment programme started at the beginning of 2015, it has awarded grants worth more than £1 million to schools and colleges, business and education partnerships.
Thirteen business and education partnership projects were recently awarded a total of £430,000 under the Major Grant scheme, following a bidding process. Among the projects to receive funding were Kineton High School and Woodlands All-age Community School, Coleshill.
These two exciting initiatives will enable students to set up and run businesses from their schools. Kineton High School has been awarded £30,000 to invest in cutting-edge technology and set up a student-run, on-site professional services hub. The students will provide creative digital services to the school’s partner businesses, including the British Motor Museum and Ettington Chase Hotel.
Woodlands All-age Community School in Coleshill has been awarded almost £40,000 to set up Laser Blazer, an online laser cutting micro-business to provide students with the skills and experience to enable them to go on and gain paid employment. The school’s business partner is Fab Lab which is part of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust.
During the last year, 255 businesses and more than 2,300 students, including 48 at most risk of being not in employment, education or training (NEET), benefited from major grants. These figures include the creation of 15 new apprenticeships and 314 new work-experience placements which illustrates how the grants achieve real outcomes for young people and businesses.