Abstract
The period 1963-2022, which is the focus of this research, saw six key policy developments in higher education that significantly affected English universities. These include the 1960s expansion of higher education without a fiscal plan and the 1980s state takeover of higher education. By the 1990s, enforced learning outcomes and tuition fees had been introduced into UK higher education. These, in turn, led to the 2015 legal protection of students as consumers of higher education. By 2018, the state-sponsored Office for Students brought England under centralised regulatory control and, by 2022, introduced the regulatory directive of progression rate targets and educating students with industry-relevant transferable skills.This research builds on this four-decade backdrop. It aims to identify a unified set of industry-transferable skills derived from a corpus of 100 employer skills surveys commissioned by the UK government and CBI between 1999 and 2020. Additionally, it explores the potential to meet policy and researchers’ demands for a common skills language that aligns with multiple stakeholders’ interests. This exploration is motivated by the challenges posed by the stringent Office for Students’ regulations. English universities’ survival now depends on providing graduates with industry-relevant transferable skills, ensuring value for money, and achieving positive student outcomes. However, there is no consensus on defining and describing these skills. The lack of consensus complicates assessing universities’ compliance with regulations. With no unified skillset, educators cannot know what industry-relevant transferable skills employers value. This absence risks a disconnect between higher education outcomes and workforce needs and exposes English universities to regulatory sanctions for failing to deliver the industry-relevant transferable skills employers value and students need.
This qualitative study adopts a dialectical critical realist stance. It utilises a blend of corpus linguistics analysis, thematic analysis, and focus group research to extract and describe the most called-for transferable skills from an employer skills corpus. The study’s findings have identified five key transferable skills. The study shows how a common skills language between employers and educators exists through detailed thematic mapping of the focus group transcripts. Policymakers, educators, and employers can use this map to advance a common skills language further, addressing a crucial void in the discourse on transferable skills in higher education. Combined with a critical examination of the broad skills literature, the study sheds light on the complex relationship between higher education regulations, students’ higher education and employment expectations, and the consistent industry demand for transferable skills. In its contribution to knowledge, this thesis pioneers a process for developing a unified skills lexicon between employers and educators, marking a significant advancement in education policy and its implementation.
| Date of Award | Aug 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Katherine Wimpenny (Supervisor), Luca Morini (Supervisor) & Sian Alsop (Supervisor) |