One of the West Midlands Skills Partnership's priorities is developing a framework to increase the number of people with higher level skills in the workforce, particularly within the private sector.
We carried out a study in 2008 to help them develop this framework further.
Read the reports
We published the key findings (pdf, 324kb) in July 2008 and synthesis report (pdf, 405kb) in October 2008.
University Challenge
Based on the project findings and published data from the Office for National Statistics, Higher Education Statistics Agency and Aimhigher, we informed Advantage West Midlands and the Higher Education Funding Council for England of ways to implement the government's University Challenge initiative in the West Midlands.
University Challenge aims to support investment in higher education at a local level and our analysis highlights the ‘market failures’ within the West Midlands that the initiative needs to address.
Read our analysis for University Challenge (pdf, 538kb).
Background to our research
We wanted to explore the issues surrounding utilisation of graduates in the West Midlands labour market – to understand issues affecting attraction, retention and employment of graduates.
We produced robust quantitative data enabling detailed analysis to be undertaken, and generalisations to be made from the findings. Also, qualitative data provided in-depth information to complement the quantitative findings.
We targeted both graduates and employers in the West Midlands to gain a thorough insight into:
- How graduates are utilised.
- Factors affecting graduates and employers' choices.
- What could be done in future to attract, retain and utilise graduates better.