Companies
spend more on training
Organisations
are spending more on training.
According
to the September edition of the Industrial Society’s Training Trends,
organisations are spending an average of 1.22 per cent of their annual turnover
on training, as opposed to 1.11 per cent in 1999.
The
highest investment in training is from the public and voluntary sectors, but
the highest increase in spending comes from the manufacturing sector, which
spends 1.39 per cent of turnover, as opposed to 0.91 per cent in 1999.
Lower
spending is seen in the financial sector which reported a spend of 1.06 per
cent of turnover this year, a figure which is down from 1.10 per cent in 1999.
However,
the poorest spender is the service sector, which reports a figure of 0.87 per
cent of turnover.
Language
gap outs UK behind
The
controversial Nuffield Language Inquiry is about to raise its head again.
Published
in May this year after a two-year period spent gathering evidence, the inquiry
estimated that British firms are missing out on millions of pounds of business
because of negligible language ability, resulting in faxes, telephone calls,
e-mails and letters “failing to receive response”.
It
pointed out that the workforce suffers from “a chronic shortage of people with
usable language skills”, yet said that evidence from employers suggest that such
skills “are not highly rated”.
The
inquiry will be tackled at the forthcoming London Language and Cultural Show
when representatives from the Languages National Training Organisation will
explain the opportunities presented by the new training frameworks and update
delegates on progress towards a quality standard for business language
trainers. The show is held on 3-4 November in Hammersmith, London.
A
public campaign to celebrate and promote language learning kicks off in 2001,
which has been designated European Year of Languages.
Web
link www.language-show.com
Awards
for year of learning
Evidence
of improved business performance will be one of the criteria in deciding the
Learning Resource Centre Manager of the Year at the new World Open Learning
Awards, which are part of Wolce 2000 next month.
The
judges will also be taking into consideration “cost-effectiveness, and gains in
employees’ skills and motivation over the past 12 months”.
Short-listed
for the title are Wendy Cliffe from Scottish Equitable, Helen de Broize of the
AA and Hazel Elderkin from Elida Faberge.
Other
awards acknowledge new learners, bespoke and generic products and outstanding
contributions to open learning.
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The
awards will be made on 4 October at a gala dinner in the National Motorcycle
Museum, Birmingham, and the main speaker is polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
Web
link www.distancelearning.co.uk
