Graduate retention: meeting local skills needs

Gradsouthwest are proud to have been named as a “Proven Success Case Study” within the report “Graduate retention: meeting local skills needs”, published by Universities UK yesterday.

Here at Gradsouthwest, we often talk about attracting and retaining talent in the region and have worked with partners for many years to help do just that. It is nice to see recognition of our efforts to date – but there is still much to do.

The report looks at the higher-level skills needs of a modern economy and how graduate retention in the regions could ease current skills shortages and drive local growth and productivity. It looks at the Governments Industrial Strategy and the role of Universities and graduates in delivering it. It talks about higher level skills shortages at a national level – with a deficit of graduates relative to the number of jobs requiring them – and that the problem will continue for the foreseeable future.

The report reveals some important lessons for those wanting to work to increase graduate retention:

·         Partnership is key

·         Identifying the precise problem is hard

·         Funding needs to be flexible

·         Work placements work

We have previously written about the issues and data for the south west in past posts: Grads Love Bristol , Graduate jobs near me and Attracting and retaining talent – a view from the Centre for Cities, and what we can learn in the South West  were the most recent.

So here at Gradsouthwest, we will continue to work in partnership – and if you want to join us to support graduate attraction and retention then please get in touch. Graduate retention is a complex issue, and is influenced by a range of social and economic factors, including differences in regional labour markets and graduate choices.

We will continue to work with employers, Universities, Colleges, students and graduates. Our aim is  to encourage employability skills within education;  the provision of work placements and graduate jobs within our employers; and make sure that students and graduates know there are high quality graduate jobs available in south west England so that they know they can build a career here.

A copy of the full report can be found at Universities UK.