Valerie Antcliff, Sue Baines and Elizabeth Gorb
The purpose of this paper is to offer an employer perspective on the value of degree apprenticeships (DAs) less than a year after the first apprentices commenced their studies for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an employer perspective on the value of degree apprenticeships (DAs) less than a year after the first apprentices commenced their studies for a bachelor’s degree in September 2015.
Design/methodology/approach
This case focusses on one of the first DAs in the UK. It draws on evidence from interviews with HR professionals responsible for the DA in two contrasting companies, an international PLC and a smaller, fast growing enterprise.
Findings
Both employers consider that the DA meets recruitment needs in ways that other options do not. They particularly value the ability of apprentices to make an immediate contribution in the workplace. For the smaller employer the university support structures are a significant advantage. Only the larger employer formally input into the curriculum prior to validation but both feel they can tailor content to suit their needs. Both see investing in the DA as excellent value for money.
Practical implications
The value of strong relationships, trust and ongoing dialogue between partners emerges as a key component in fulfilling the need of employers.
Originality/value
The DA model recasts employers as the purchasers of higher education and affords them a key role in developing provision tailored to their needs. Implications of this new model for employers, universities and learners are potentially profound and hard to predict. This case study is based on part of the early stage of a three-year research programme. It provides a unique, early insight into two employers’ rationales for engaging with the DA programme and their initial experiences.
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David Rae, Lynn Martin, Valerie Antcliff and Paul Hannon
This article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to report the results of a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (ISBE) on behalf of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). The survey builds on prior work undertaken by the NCGE in England in 2006 and in 2007.
Design/methodology/approach
The survey aimed to establish a complete picture of curricular and extra‐curricular enterprise and entrepreneurship education. The survey uses a similar structure to the previous survey, enabling comparison to be made with enterprise provision over the 2006‐2010 period, as well as with the 2008 European survey of entrepreneurship in HE.
Findings
The results provide a stock‐take of enterprise education provision in participating HEIs and highlight the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise. The paper reveals “hotspots” and gaps in enterprise provision and offers “benchmarks” for the sector.
Research limitations/implications
The article offers a summary of the implications for the future development and sustainability of enterprise education in HE, in relation to policy, funding and other changes in the sector. It also considers these issues in relation to recommendations from professional educators and government policy for future development of enterprise in HE and comments on the policy impact of this work.
Originality/value
The timing of the survey, in May‐July 2010, was important as it reflected the end of a period of over ten years of sustained investment in enterprise in higher education by the previous Labour government in the UK, through a range of funding initiatives. As major public expenditure reductions in support for HE and enterprise activity followed, this represented the “high water mark” of publicly funded enterprise activity in the HE sector, and raised the question of how enterprise education and support activities would become sustainable for the future. The report analyses existing provision, assesses its development over the 2006‐2010 period, and provides conclusions and recommendations covering future policy, development, resourcing, and sustainability of enterprise and entrepreneurship provision in higher education.
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Peter A.C. Smith and Judy O’Neil
Many organizations now utilize action learning, and it is applied increasingly throughout the world. Action learning appears in numerous variants, but generically it is a form of…
Abstract
Many organizations now utilize action learning, and it is applied increasingly throughout the world. Action learning appears in numerous variants, but generically it is a form of learning through experience, “by doing”, where the task environment is the classroom, and the task the vehicle. Two previous reviews of the action learning literature by Alan Mumford respectively covered the field prior to 1985 and the period 1985‐1994. Both reviews included books as well as journal articles. This current review covers the period 1994‐2000 and is limited to publicly available journal articles. Part 1 of the Review was published in an earlier issue of the Journal of Workplace Learning (Vol. 15 No. 2) and included a bibliography and comments. Part 2 extends that introduction with a schema for categorizing action learning articles and with comments on representative articles from the bibliography.