After just two years, England’s department for higher and further education has been scrapped. The prime minister has created a new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills under Lord Mandelson. Universities do not figure in the name of the new department, whose remit is “to build Britain’s capabilities to compete in the global economy”, but still fall under Mandy’s watch. The Million+ group, representing new universities, said that the department would have to address “immediate challenges” – by that they mean the tens of thousands of students turned away because there are no places for them, and the twenty’s of thousands looking for work this summer. The message is clear: universities and businesses go hand-in-hand.

Tags: Graduate career news, university and business links

The UK could become over-skilled, or at least that’s what jolly St. Mike thinks over at UKCES.  That’s right when Mike Campbell isn’t filling in as Santa at the local super market he’s the director of research at UKCES of more affectionately known as the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, it just rolls off your tongue! Mike, speaking at the launch of UKCES’ Ambition 2020 plan, said that skills shortages are now at an all time low: “We could soon be asking ourselves whether we have too many highly skilled people. At the moment this country still has more highly skilled jobs than it does highly skilled people, but our supply of highly skilled people is now growing faster than the development of new highly skilled jobs by a factor of 4:1. This signals the fact we run a very real risk of over skilling the population unless the numbers of jobs and skills are balanced with each other”. These predictions do somewhat go against UKCES’ call for 20 million additional qualifications to be gained by 2020, to meet their Ambition plans, but this call is in response to the UK being placed 18th out of 20 for qualified workforce as only 1 in 4 adults have at least 5 GCSE’s. This means that the competition for jobs will continue so it’s your job as job hunters to make yourself as employable as possible, have a look at these videos to help you out.

Tags: 2020, over skilled, Qualifications, skills, UKCES

Reports from the University of Ulster say they will allow some students to skip work placements as part of their degree because there are so few companies able to offer a position. It flies in the face of the Government trumpet that’s bleating on about the importance of work placements and internships, but what’s a student to do when the work isn’t out there – especially in the construction industry. No wonder internships have become the prize of choice in various brand PR competitions – take Big Yellow and Enterprise Rent-a-Car for examples

Tags: competitions to win internships, Internships, student internship opportunities

When I was a lad, I went to a finishing school and it made me the man I am today, now it appears its time may have come again.  It’s been revealed that the Government is considering sending graduates to finishing schools to help them learn about body language, workplace etiquette and fashion. Obviously the Government, busy fighting the recession and credit crunchers, haven’t had the time to think this up all on their own so the Department of Work and Pensions put their heads together with The Young Foundation and the Department for Innovation Universities and Skills to come up with ideas and funding.  Between the three them, they came up with a finishing school…A finishing school!  I could have done that in my spare time.  I could have postponed my moustache manicure, put the old thinking cap on and came up with this, but Rushanara Ali of The Young Foundation wanted the lime light: “Many people leaving university this summer are going to be entering a very barren jobs market.  Our aim is to ensure graduates hit the ground running by giving them the knowledge they need to impress potential employers”.  I’m there for you next time Rushanara.

Tags: finishing school, graduate, post graduate

The chief student counters over at The Complete University Guide have once again published their university league table and there’s big news apparently.  There isn’t much change at the top with Oxford sat on the top of the pile, or at the bottom with the London South Bank University propping the table up for the second year running.  So what’s the big news, well the big news is that new universities are finally making an impact on the rankings, with Hertfordshire leading the way in 45th place.  My good friend and personal confidant Professor Tim Wilson, vice-chancellor of Hertfordshire, is over the moon with the news proclaiming: “We don’t engineer our activities to meet the requirements of league tables.  But we are absolutely delighted. This reflects the hard work that has been done by my university over many years.”  To see the full listings and find out exactly how good your uni is have a look here and you can find out when they’re having careers fairs here

Tags: best university, rankings