Small providers face ‘systemic barriers’ to engaging with industry

The ability of small and specialist providers to forge links with industry is being hampered by “systemic barriers and regulatory instability”, a report has warned.

Although many UK institutions have already forged successful partnerships with employers, this is often despite the “structural features of the system” conspiring against them, Independent Higher Education (IHE) found.

Its report, published on 10 August, cites “regulatory cycles that cannot keep pace with industry change, outcome measures that do not capture how many of their graduates’ careers develop, and funding and assessment models built around scale and place” that put many of its members at a disadvantage.

Based on a series of interviews and focus groups, the report finds that the obstacles make contributions to the UK’s growth agenda more laborious, resource-heavy and expensive, with “targeted policy change” necessary to unleash greater potential.

One key ask is for UK Research and Innovation to review eligibility for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to allow small and specialist providers to participate as “knowledge base partners”.

The Department for Education (DfE), meanwhile, is urged to “prioritise stability” when it comes to designing and sharing its policy on funding for skills-related teaching.

The report finds that small and specialist providers are already doing good work connecting their students and learning opportunities with industry partners.

IHE’s own data shows that across 81 independent providers surveyed last year, 78 per cent reported links to industry, most commonly through work experience.

But the level of interaction differs according to size, with 86 per cent of large providers saying they had industry partnerships compared with 74 per cent of small providers.

“This likely reflects the administrative capacity required to formalise partnership structures rather than a difference in commitment or quality,” the report suggests.

Many providers maintain close contact with “industry practitioners” who can help influence assessment, module design, and quality assurance.

One example listed is the relationship between Metropolis Studios, where pop star Taylor Swift has recorded, and the Academy of Contemporary Music, to build short courses on mixing and mastering tracks.

Advantages of this kind of partnership include specialist providers’ ability to be nimbler and more reactive, the report finds, arguing that a new programme that could take two or three years to come to fruition at a large, multi-faculty university can be ready in 12 months at a smaller institution.

But nevertheless, regulatory and funding requirements forge “a system which serves no one especially well”, introducing heavy costs and delays.

Despite welcoming the standards upheld by the Office for Students, which the report acknowledges protects quality, it criticises five-year cycles for degree-awarders’ revalidation, suggesting the “result is a persistent mismatch between what employers need, what students expect, and what regulated providers are formally able to deliver”.

Policymakers, meanwhile, are guilty of “poorly communicated reforms” on issues such as apprenticeship funding rules, it is claimed.

Devolutionary powers also come into play, impacting national and international partnerships’ ability to connect with students in Scotland and Wales.

In response, the IHE recommends the government look to independent, specialist, small providers to advise when it comes to creating skills policy and developing the industrial strategy.

In addition, it asks the DfE and Department for Work and Pensions to jointly review the role of online and blended provision in meeting skills gaps, and to “address the funding, regulatory and access barriers that currently constrain it”.

IHE chief executive Alex Proudfoot said: “This contribution could hardly be more urgent.”

“Economic growth, regional devolution and the disruption created by artificial intelligence all demand a more responsive education and skills system.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com