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.
The National Centre for Work Experience (Council for Industry & HE)
The establishment of a National Centre for Work Experience (NCWE), under the auspices of the Council for Industry and Higher Education, had the following aims:
Evidence from those who have had contact with NCWE suggests the organisation is fulfilling an important role across the UK. In particular it is lobbying the government and its agencies on the role of quality work experience in developing undergraduates' high level key skills; it is raising the profile of quality work experience amongst senior academics, major employers and employer organisations; and it is engaging major businesses in sponsoring work experience activity and helping those engaged in work experience activity to network with one another.
NCWE recognises that although there is some evidence that greater priority is now being given to developing and co-ordinating academically recognised work experience, and that employers do intend to increase the number of work placements offered, it will take some years before quality work experience is embedded and recognised across the curriculum and the business community.
Key lessons from the project include:
National centres can be important catalysts for change provided they (i) are established in areas of high priority to the government; (ii) receive the backing of major players; (iii) are not pressed to achieve financial viability too early in their life; and (iv) are closely networked with related projects.
The contract holder, the Council for Industry and Higher Education, recommends that:
NCWE has produced a range of outputs and now operates as a self-financing centre.
© 2001
