There is a major challenge in the West Midlands to increase the number of graduates entering the workforce, especially in the private sector. For the region to thrive and compete in the new world economy it is essential that businesses utilise higher level skills to build a future based on innovation, quality and efficiency.
To promote this, members of the Partnership have been working together to create a comprehensive portfolio of Higher Level Skills services in the region. Here are some examples of the programmes currently operating in the West Midlands:
Graduate Advantage - Provides access for graduates to paid placements in small and medium sized enterprises. Graduates get the opportunity to learn skills relevant to the commercial market while businesses see the benefit from utilising higher skilled employees. Graduate Advantage aim to place a further 400 graduates by 2011.
West Midlands Graduate Internships - Launched as a direct response to the economic downturn, this scheme combines the work of a range of partners to provide 250 internships for up to 6 months. This enables graduates to gain valuable experience of work and encourages small businesses to explore the benefits of graduate talent. Graduates may be eligible for Job Seekers Allowance and also receive work orientation training through a range of sub-regional JCP contracted training providers. This programme has been so popular that it has been increased to 500 placements, extending the scheme to March 2010.
Graduate Works - The pilot programme Graduate Works supports newly employed graduate-level high fliers and provides them with intensive training to develop skills, attitudes and aptitudes to improve the productivity of SMEs. The scheme maximises the likelihood of graduates staying in the local regional economy as well as enabling businesses to see a faster return on their investment in graduate talent.
Grad Central - Grad Central was established to help companies throughout the West Midlands to access the very best in graduate talent. The online service is targeted to recruit 2,000 people with graduate level skills into jobs in the region’s private companies over the next four years. The programme helps smaller firms, in particular to recruit the graduates they need to develop their business.
Regeneration Placement Service - Developed by RegenWM, the Regeneration Placement Service offers a free service matching graduates and undergraduates with work placements in the regeneration sector in the West Midlands. This programme, a response to the Egan Skills Agenda, aims to offer 80 placements this year.
First Move West Midlands - First Move is a directory of graduate jobs distributed through the region’s universities to students. The 2009 edition contains a list of more than 1,000 small and medium sized businesses willing to accept graduate CVs, and is available online and in printed copy. Last year 75 per cent of graduates in the region received a copy of the directory. The second edition will be distributed in November 2009.
Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in EDucation - SPEED offers students at Wolverhampton University the opportunity to develop their business ideas whilst at University. SPEED enables students to start their own business alongside their studies with access to experienced mentoring support, tailored training and networking opportunities, whilst giving them full responsibility of their budgetary decisions.
Salaried Graduate Internships – This internship scheme, developed by the University of Worcester in response to the economic turndown, offers graduate employment opportunities in Herefordshire and Worcestershire area. The Scheme aims to match ambitious, skilled graduates with local businesses. The internships provided are full time, paid employment opportunities for 12 months across a range of employers and include enrolment on a Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Management (one day per week release from employment to complete the course).
Project Green – This project, developed by Keele University, will fund graduates on short-term placements to complete environmental projects at the benefit of rural businesses. Types of projects include: waste reduction, energy efficiency improvements, specific work towards environmental standards and carbon reduction techniques. Keele place a graduate in the business for a minimum of 4 weeks and training and as well as a bursary for the graduate at no cost to the business.
Knowledge Innovation Technology Transfer Scheme - KITTS aims to match the skills of qualified graduates with the specific needs of West Midlands based SMEs by giving graduates the opportunity to put theory into practice through a real work based project in industry. Each project lasts 10-12 weeks.
STEP - Step is one of the UK’s leading nationwide placement programmes and over the past 20 years, has helped undergraduates and graduates deliver over 22,000 projects within small and medium sized businesses across the UK. Over 97% of businesses that have taken part in Shell Step said that the programme had a positive impact on their business's performance.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships - KTPs help businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through better use of knowledge, technology and skills that reside within the UK knowledge base. Graduates in full-time employment receive mentorship and supervision from an academic. Graduates spend around 10% of their time in training and personal development, and are given a training budget to manage.
Graduate Talent Pool - The Graduate Talent Pool is a new service (launched Summer 2009) that connects graduates to businesses through internship opportunities. It is part of a package of measures to support graduates to improve their employability skills and support business at the same time. It is a web based facility through which graduates to apply for internships with employers looking for graduate levels skills in their businesses.
This information is not exhaustive and will be regularly updated.
November 2009