Screenreader users should ignore the next comment.
You will still be able to access all the essential content of this page, but it will not look, or function, as intended. For further information go to the Viewing page, in the Welcome section of this web site.
Ignore the previous message about browser versions as that does not apply to you. The important content here is the text and you should be able to access that without difficulty. The links are also attached to items of text, so should be easy to follow.
Your screenreader should find all the text content of this page first. It will find the site navigation menus next. You can use this link to go straight to them from here: Site Navigation Menus. Unless an image appears within the text it can safely be ignored. Your screenreader should also find comments that help you use this page.
This page is designed to look like a card index and appears to be made of textured paper. The main part of the page is lemon-yellow, other parts of it are pale blue. It has tags across the top and cut out shapes down the left hand side. The links appear to be written on these. The Bridging the Gap logo is at the top. This shows through a cut out section of the page.
For further information on access go to the Accessibility page in the Welcome section of this web site.
This digest describes 56 innovative projects, funded by the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), which were aimed at enhancing students' employability and higher education's contribution to the economy.
Fifty-six of these development projects were grouped into eight themes. (There was a ninth theme, "Discipline Network", which was not part of the same programme but ran concurrently.) Therefore, this digest is divided into eight sections. Each section starts with a brief introduction highlighting some of the projects' outcomes under that specific theme, and then each project is summarised.
This digest draws the lessons from the group of 56 development projects which were run by higher education institutions in England, relevant employers and employers organisations, during the period from 1998 to 2000. They covered eight main themes:
Applications hit an all-time high in 1997 when the DfEE issued its Prospectus offering support for ideas to improve higher education responsiveness to labour market needs. Enthusiasm was further fuelled by the report from the Dearing Committee's Inquiry into Higher Education, which endorsed the need for development activity in the areas outlined in the Prospectus. Competition for the available funding was intense and the task of selecting the projects to support was made more difficult by the quality of the ideas put forward. I am delighted, therefore, that the resultant programme of 56 projects has fulfilled its original promise and produced so much that is of general applicability across the HE sector.
The focus of all this work has been on individuals: students, graduates and lifelong learners. The intention was to explore their preparation for work whilst in higher education, their transition from higher education to the workplace, and subsequent support for their lifelong learning. A recent independent evaluation of the programme reported that it was effective in helping HEls respond to labour market need, developing helpful products and materials, and generating ideas that are widely replicable and sustainable. These short summaries can in no way adequately reflect the time and effort, energy and commitment, innovation and problem solving that underpin such positive outcomes. I hope, however, that they will be enough to prompt you to want to find out more and to pick up on good practices that you may wish to take forward.
Spreading the messages and communicating lessons learned is always a difficult task. Transferability of outcomes is often disputed. Yet, in these projects, the evaluators found much that has the potential to be replicated across disciplines, institutions and sectors. The members of the project team themselves have worked hard to disseminate their activities, within their own organisations, sectors, regions and nationally. In these days of e-business, much use has been made of websites and many of the projects will have their full report and other project materials available on-line (see our website http://www.dfee.gov.uk/heqe/index.htm). We hope that making the results available in as many ways as possible will help everyone concerned to learn from them.
© 2001
