A new alliance aimed at bringing employers and colleges closer together to deliver more economically valuable skills has been launched.
The alliance brings together employers, college principals and executives from sector skills councils.
It is the first time the demand and supply sides of education and training have joined forces in this way to construct and deliver learning and qualifications relevant to the world of work.
The move has been sparked by the Leitch Review of Skills, which called for the UK to commit to becoming a world leader in skills by 2020.
David Hunter, chair of the new group, said: “For too long, the supply and demand sides of the education and training system have worked in silos, but this alliance is determined to cut through the red-tape and rise to the challenge of delivering the Leitch vision.”
The alliance’s remit includes:
Jointly developing, promoting and increasing the availability of flexible and bite-sized learning, as well as full qualifications, to meet the needs of employers and individual learners
Ensuring a flexible qualifications framework that can adapt to and support different models of learning and skills training
Encouraging employers and colleges to engage with the skills agenda
Working together to reduce funding barriers and bureaucracy.
The alliance now intends to lobby MPs, ministers and sector agencies to encourage support for and investment in its action plan.
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