Writing as part of our Budget opinion series, Amanda J Broderick of the University of East London sets out why bringing universities and employers together is vital for skill development.
In her recent speech setting the scene for the upcoming Budget, Rachel Reeves said: “If we are to build the future of Britain together, we will all have to contribute.”
While this careful wording more than hints at forthcoming tax rises, it also reminds us of a vital truth – that collaboration holds the key to growth. When it comes to universities and businesses working together, there remains plenty of room for improvement: from outdated graduate hiring systems to intractable university partnership infrastructure, and bureaucratic blockers to innovation on all sides.
Yet we have an opportunity – as the saying goes, never let a crisis go to waste. With the dire need to boost productivity and growth, all options are on the table.
Generative AI clearly represents a huge opportunity here. New research by the University of East London (UEL) and London Economics, shows that three-quarters of employers expect AI proficiency in highly skilled workers within five years. With this a critical graduate competency now, educational laggards must rise to the challenge urgently.
Nevertheless, we must also be mindful of the risks. One is that AI can suppress opportunities for junior talent. The answer to our economic woes is not to replace entry-level skilled workers – a move that would threaten not just graduates’ immediate prospects but future training, skills and leadership pipelines – but to work with universities to ensure that they can understand, access, and value higher skilled talent. Outsourcing tasks like research, analysis and report writing to AI without human judgement can cost companies dearly – as media reports have shown with increasing frequency.
Much hiring has become a hall of mirrors: AI-generated applications screened by AI filters, relying on crude, out-dated proxies for talent that do not predict new routes for success. Real, diverse potential is lost in this algorithmic echo chamber.
Robots talking exclusively to robots is clearly no solution to Britain’s skills challenge. Yet nor is “business as usual.” We have seen how higher education can unlock prosperity – and how inefficient and ineffective hiring systems risk squandering it. Competition has soared: applications per graduate vacancy rose by 59% in just one year. For too many young people, the promise of a degree is undermined by recruitment practices that fail both them and the businesses that need their talent.
At UEL, we have decided to do things differently. By embedding careers throughout study; forging deep, value-adding partnerships with employers; breaking down the barriers between learning, innovation and work; and developing validated, leaner, and more successful recruitment pipelines. As a result, we have lifted graduate employment rates by 25 percentage points in just five years – the fastest rise in England – and driven the fastest increase in graduate start-ups, with a 1000% increase in businesses still active after 3 years. When universities and industry work together, students thrive, businesses gain, and productivity grows.
As the government finalises its decisions for the Budget, it has a crucial role to play – not in propping up outdated systems, pooling back offices, or creating multi-university entities that will not solve skills shortages or broken hiring practices, but in incentivising innovation and enterprise, and rewarding real collaboration that delivers employability additionality.
Employers know reform is needed – 97% per cent of those surveyed in our research want closer partnerships with universities. Almost nine in ten back a single digital “front door”: a national platform where graduates and employers can connect, with intelligent talent-matching to plug skills and innovation gaps.
Organisations such as BusinessLDN are leading the way in building and facilitating systemic partnerships that align degrees with employer demand, invest in practice-based learning, and give industry the confidence that universities are producing the talent and innovation they need.
If Britain is serious about building a more productive, inclusive economy, it must put genuine collaboration between universities, business, and government at the heart of its growth strategy. Only by reimagining how we connect education with employment can Britain turn its brightest minds into the engine of a stronger, fairer economy.