Skills and employability
We aim to ensure that Welsh higher education institutions (HEIs) meet the needs and expectations of learners and other stakeholders, especially employers. They do this through providing highly skilled, employable graduates, and providing opportunities for upskilling the existing workforce through continuing professional development.
HEFCW supports skills and employability through:
GO Wales
In support of skills for the knowledge economy, HEFCW is the project sponsor for the GO Wales programme, delivered in partnership with higher education institutions (HEIs) in Wales.
Teaching funding method
HEFCW’s credit-based teaching funding method allows the structure and location of courses to be flexible. The system is flexible enough to deliver learning (eg Continuing Professional Development (CPD), bespoke training courses, etc) in the workplace.
Postgraduate Research (PGR) Training
The training that HE institutions provide to develop the next generation of highly skilled researchers is supported by our PGR stream of funding.
Third Mission Fund
The Third Mission Fund can be used to support skills and employment activities, including graduate employability.
Reconfiguration and Collaboration Fund / Strategic Development Fund
Our collaboration funding supports a number of initiatives which have a clear skills focus, including the Skillset Screen Academy in Wales as a centre of excellence for high level skills training for the film industry.
Additional Support for Part-time Students
£2 million a year is aimed at strengthening engagement with employers in delivering part-time higher education.
Economic Support Initiative
In 2009, to help counter the impact of the economic downturn, a one-off investment of £2 million has been made available for co-ordinated activity between HE institutions to enhance and add value to existing work with individuals and employers.
W09/06HE: Economic Support Initiative
Sector Skills Councils are the employer driven organisations that together articulate the voice of the employers of around 90% of the UK’s workforce on skills issues.
- The Alliance of Sector Skills Councils acts as the collective voice of SSCs, to coordinate their policy positions and to help build their performance capability and effectiveness.
- The performance of the SSCs is managed by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).
- The Welsh Government has established the Wales Employment and Skills Board (WESB) to advise ministers on all issues related to skills, employment and business support.
- membership of the Welsh Government’s Stakeholder Group, which aims to ensure that SSCs, in partnership with key stakeholders, continually improve their performance in Wales. This will include the development of action plans with all 25 SSCs
- our HE-SSC Communications Group, which aims to support the establishment of a strategic structured engagement between Wales’s HEIs and Sector Skills Councils
