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Collaboration between Leicester and Singapore's Workforce Development Agency has led to impacts underpinned by a 25-year history of research into skills, training and workforce development. The relationship has enabled the establishment of Singapore's first policy research centre designed to inform the government's workforce policy revaluation. Before the establishment of the Centre for Skills, Performance and Productivity Research (CSPPR), independent research in these areas was virtually non-existent in Singapore. Impacts include creating a new field of study in Singapore; contribution to government policy and direction in Singapore, and a resulting contribution to the well-being of the country's economy and society.
SKOPE has been an ESRC research centre since 1998. Successive pieces of research on linked themes have cumulatively influenced thinking, and practice, in policy circles and amongst practitioners more generally. SKOPE is recognised by these constituents as providing important oversight and challenging roles in the policy process, through its research on how skills are acquired, and where and how they are best used in the labour market. As indicated in a Frontier Economics report, its research findings, built up over the years, have provided an influential British critique of approaches to the making of skills policy.
This work has resulted in changes and amendments to specific policies and processes not only in the UK (Train to Gain) but also in Australia (high skill eco-systems), New Zealand (tertiary education) and within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (skills and competitiveness).
As evidenced in policy documents and practitioner testimonies, the case study has had a significant impact on European Union (EU) and national VET (vocational education and training) policy through: modifying the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and associated terminology — including learning outcomes, skills, and competences — and influencing implementation in terms of sectoral alignment and the establishment of Zones of Mutual Trust (ZMTs). Based on two major research projects, the case identifies the difficulties and possibilities to establish equivalence of occupational qualifications and has been widely disseminated to reach major stakeholders, including the European Commission (EC), trade unions, employers and VET organisations.
Research carried out by the University of Nottingham has significantly informed international policies designed to transform technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and its role in development. This has been achieved through direct contribution to policy making at global, regional and national levels, most notably for UNESCO, the Southern African Development Community and the South African government. This has led to the revision of global, regional and national policy guidelines and the development of new regional and national indicators. Conventional policy wisdoms have been questioned at global and national levels and new concepts introduced into the policy debate.
Core labour rights have a crucial role in achieving economic prosperity and political stability on a national and global scale. The emergence of complex global trade networks has raised important questions as to how such rights could be implemented and enforced across multiple supply chains and geographical borders. Research at the Centre for Labour Market Studies, School of Management, Leicester has helped the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the EU understand the advantages and risks associated with International Framework Agreements (IFAs), particularly regarding their implementation in supply chains. IFAs have emerged as a specific instrument to secure core labour rights and shift the onus away from nation states. Between 2000 and 2013 the number of IFAs in operation around the world increased from five to more than 100, directly benefiting more than 10 million workers and indirectly benefiting tens of millions more. Leicester research has played a part in understanding the dynamics of IFAs and developing more effective ones.
Professor Stephen Ball has produced a series of highly provocative analyses of English education policy and the neo-liberal education concepts and practices that have taken root in an increasing number of countries. He has also raised awareness of the growing significance of international edu-businesses and philanthropists. His work has proved valuable not only to national and global teachers' organisations but to pressure groups and think tanks seeking to protect the state education system. Teachers have also derived comfort and insight from Ball's research as it allows them to gain a better understanding of the mundane but powerful managerial and market forces that influence how they work and relate to themselves.
King's research in the field of ESOL has had an impact on the education of the most marginalised communities in society by contributing to changes to the national strategy for improving adults' basic skills, the Skills for Life strategy. In particular, the research has informed (i) revisions to the Core Curriculum for Adult ESOL in England and Wales, (ii) guidelines to support the implementation of the national standards for teachers of English in FE, (iii) the development of materials for teaching English to adult migrants, which are widely used in the training of ESOL teachers and in ESOL classrooms, and (iv) the development of employment-related English language programmes and materials. The research also informed two successful campaigns to maintain ESOL provision in the face of threatened cuts.
Research conducted at the University of Dundee has led to the development of a number of teaching interventions that have enhanced the employability skills of graduates in Dundee and beyond. Embedding innovative learning and teaching resources into the curriculum has given accounting and finance students across the UK early exposure to real world data as well as critical problem solving and decision making experience. This has created graduates who are able to deal with a rapidly changing working environment. Involving a wide range of stakeholders including not only academics and students but also finance experts and accounting practitioners in the research and design of the interventions has benefited the students who have been able to learn from the shared wisdom of professional experts while at university; and in return the profession has profited from more rounded and effective graduates.
McNay's work is at the boundaries between HEIs and their environment: policy analysis, particularly of Access and, here, Research Quality Assessment, and the impact on internal strategies; and organisational analysis and the way internal cultures and processes are conditioned by external influences. His conceptual model of cultures is used by professionals worldwide to evaluate and improve leadership and management and introduce change. RAE impact analysis has influenced policy (eg on the teaching /research nexus) in the UK and elsewhere) and staff behaviour. It was a factor leading to adjustment of later exercises towards profiling, consistency of criteria and impact
The research outlined below was instrumental in the development of a new classification of graduate occupations, beyond a dichotomous graduate/non-graduate distinction, which has become a standard typology for analysing the graduate labour market. Policymakers and research bodies, such as HECSU and Universities UK, have used it to better understand the impact of higher education, labour market and wider social policy reform, such as migration policy. Most UK HEIs have used this typology to compare employment outcomes for their graduates and it has also proved to be an important point of reference for careers advisors and students to aid educational and career decision-making.