Employment, learning and skills

Get on with GraduatesA dynamic, flexible and skilled workforce helps businesses to thrive and individuals to maintain their employability. The East Midlands is characterised by a combination of high employment and a predominance of jobs demanding low skills and paying low wages.

emda has a series of initiatives designed to raise business demand for skills, support training providers to rise to the challenge of meeting the demands of the region’s changing economy and help people improve their skills.

emda's strategic role in skills

The future growth and success of the region’s businesses depends on people having the right skills and opportunities to enter and progress through the workforce.

All Regional Development Agencies have been tasked with producing a Skills Priorities Statement (SPS) that captures skills priorities for the coming three years and is updated annually. It will provide an overview of skills required to support economic recovery and growth, cover all skills levels from age 16 upwards and have a strong local and sectoral focus.

To support this work, emda has arranged a series of short discussion sessions in each county during August. More details can be found on the events diary or by emailing Skills@emd.org.uk.

The SPS will be submitted to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in early September 2010 to inform the development of their national Skills Investment Strategy. This will steer Skills Funding Agency investment, and be published in October.

Unleashing Enterprise

Enterprise Week 2008Unleashing Enterprise is a partnership programme supported by emda, designed to lead the development and delivery of enterprise skills in the East Midlands.The programme is overseen by a range of partners and will offer conferences and share best practice. It will also run project based activity including the delivery of Global Entrepreneurship Week in November 2009.

In its role as an enterprise observatory, the campaign is managing two websites www.unleashing-enterprise.co.uk for partners involved in the campaign and www.enterprisingstreak.co.uk to promote enterprise to young people.

Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Partnership

The East Midlands STEM Partnership shares ideas, knowledge and best practice through: Biannual forum events, featuring guest speakers and workshops; Bimonthly teleconferences; and creating Impact Teams helping the Partnership identify areas for improvement. They also run the STEM students journalist programme.
The website, www.emstempartnership.org.uk is full of ideas for boosting STEM education and keeping up with the latest developments.  

STEM Project (Space Academy)

National space centreSpace is a subject that so often provokes inspiration and wonder in young people and the Space Academy couples these in a programme that addresses the needs of business and industry. The UK has a thriving space industry and world-leading expertise in space science and climate change modelling.
For further information on any Space Academy event go to www.spacecentre.co.uk

Catapulting Kids Further!

Ashfield Skills CentreThis programme is a capital investment scheme to schools and SMEs and seeks to create 50 applied learning (vocational) centres across the region. The fund provides capital grants for the purchase of equipment that will excite and enthuse young people. To date successful applications include the purchase of a twin jet engine to support engineering aerospace education through to a simulated hospital wing to enhance healthcare based skills.
http://www.catapultingkidsfurther.co.uk/

Career Chain

Career Chain is a redundancy and redeployment project for engineers and construction professionals within the East Midlands.  It provides specialist careers advice and guidance, CV development support, interview skills training and job search support as well as a vacancy matching service specially developed to help bring together engineers and construction professionals with employers seeking to recruit within the region.
www.careerchain.org.uk

Innovative Workplaces

Ten companies have nominated members of staff who will become part of the Work Organisation network, learning about successful change and developing new ways of working.  This will be supported by tailored management and leadership training, mentoring support and a nominated Acas facilitator who will help them to identify which areas of the organisation require change and support them in implementing a successful action plan to see the change through to a successful conclusion. 
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2677

Learning through Work

Neil Lovell of Start Fresh radio interviewLearning through Work is specially designed to meet the needs of both the employee and the employer. It allows businesses to develop the skills of their staff at a higher level through relevant work-based projects, which are validated by a university. emda funding has ensured that the Learning through Work is now available across the East Midlands. www.learningthroughwork.org

HotProspects – The East Midlands Graduate Recruitment Service

HotProspects supports graduates applying for jobs, particularly those studying in the local universities, and regional businesses looking to employ graduates from across the UK. The project combines the simplicity of a website with the quality of a full-service recruitment agency, allowing for a low cost but high quality service, with minimal risk attached for clients.
www.hotprospects.org.uk/

Your Future East Midlands

This website provides information and advice to help people to make informed choices about courses and qualifications. People can also find out what qualifications they need for the career they wish to pursue. www.yourfuture-eastmidlands.co.uk

The Graduate Talent Pool

Graduate Talent Pool is the Government’s national graduate internship programme. It is part of a package of measures to support graduates to improve their employability skills and support business at the same time. The site provides information for both graduates and employers. graduatetalentpool.dius.gov.uk

Internships

In the East Midlands, many Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are running schemes to:

Visit the links below to find out more: