UK businesses must have closer links with
Universities to improve UK jobs growth and help the government
decrease youth
unemployment
Youth unemployment is probably the biggest challenge facing the
government’s jobs growth plans. There are around one and a half
million young people currently not in education, employment or
training, and a quarter of a million been unemployed for over a
year.
As the economy continues to shrink, more and
more young people are being pushed out of the job market as
employers look for more experienced employees. The current economic
climate is making many businesses wary of hiring fresh
graduates because they don’t have the necessary work based
skills that employees are looking for in many cases.
A recent report by Adecco ‘Unlocking Britain’s Potential’, found
that 36% of companies believe the education system was not meeting
their needs, while 50% of employees stated that the current
educational curriculum wasn’t providing youngsters with the
appropriate skills. Companies highlighted basic literacy and
numeracy as the main problems. They also found that many graduates
don’t have the necessary work place skills such as behaviour,
attitude, teamwork, communications and personal presentation.
There is a huge need for the education system
to teach new skills to students and graduates around today’s
digital economy. Last year, Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt,
criticised the UK’s education system for failing to capitalise on
its record of innovation in science and engineering. This prompted
David Cameron to request Michael Gove, the education secretary, to
put an emphasis on teaching how software is made rather than how it
is used. Although not all curriculum needs to be changed, the
education system needs to play close attention to the needs of the
jobs market, with many skills gaps appearing in different
industries.
Graduates will therefore be provided with the
necessary world of work skills much earlier, and provide the sort
of experiences and behaviour needed to be successful in the modern
work place. Employers carry a responsibility to provide work
experience, apprenticeships, internships and graduate training
schemes to tap into the potential of graduates early on and
provide them with the experience that many employers look for in
new employees.
Share and Connect
What are these?
|
Follow on Twitter |
 |
Link to us |
 |
Read our Blogg |
 |
Connect with us |
 |