- All students should benefit from meaningful work experience
- The UK needs to be an attractive place for international students
- Schools and universities should embed work-related learning in the curriculum
On Friday 27 March the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), the leading voice of student recruiters and developers, will publish a series of recommendations for the future government to help employers, schools and universities to fully prepare young people for the world of work.
The AGR Manifesto 2015 calls on all political parties to tackle unpaid internships, and make work experience provision more appealing to employers by offering tax incentives. Work experience and internships play a strong role in the overall productivity of the UK workforce, so employers need to provide more opportunities and educators need to play their role to inspire students to get on board.
Stephen Isherwood, Chief Executive of the AGR, said: “Our manifesto reflects the views of over 300 major employers which collectively recruit over 21,500 students a year in the UK. We’re urging all political parties to consider the recommendations in our manifesto; adopting them will help to ensure the UK can continue to produce exceptional work-ready students and bring huge benefits to the economy.”
The AGR manifesto calls for:
- the embedding of employability skills into all levels of education
- better enterprise education in schools and universities
- the government to challenge Ofsted to be rigorous in reviewing schools’ delivery of careers advice
- schools, universities and employers to build stronger partnerships
- the tackling of social mobility to help students reach their full potential
- measuring of universities’ levels of engagement with employers
- increased high-quality work experience for students whether at school or university
- tax incentives for employers to provide valuable work experience
- the government to champion the contribution which international students make to both universities and employers
- a streamlined visa process for employers recruiting international graduates
- students to take a proactive approach to gaining work experience.
Stephen Isherwood continued, “Our student recruitment market is arguably the most sophisticated and competitive in the world. Graduate vacancies are at record highs and graduate employees are adding at least £1bn to the UK economy every year. Yet our recent survey of AGR employer members reported over 1,400 unfilled vacancies, revealing that employers are struggling to find the right talent to meet their business needs.
“We believe there is a need to be working harder as a country to develop young people for the world of employment. The government, employers, schools, universities, and students themselves all need to do their bit to inspire young people and help them achieve their potential. This means better careers advice and enterprise education in schools and universities, as well as more meaningful paid work experience to expose young people to the working world.”
Jillian Burton, Graduate Programme Manager, Lloyd’s Register and AGR member said: “To grow and develop this country for an active role in the global economy we need to develop people. I feel strongly that everybody is ‘talent’, not just a small pool of people and we just need to harness it. We should acknowledge that the fast changing dynamics of technology, industry, cultures and economies will affect what we need from the incoming generations. We need to embrace the new skills they can bring.”