3. Employability in the UK

Skills and Knowledge

The Skills Agenda

‘Knowledge’ and ‘skills’ are terms that are commonly opposed to one another but are also commonly confused with one another. They are also central to current discourse about higher education and employability. Since the 2010s there has been increased criticism of the HE sector’s focus on knowledge in contrast to the growing belief that 'skills' are the key to employability, while 'knowledge' is not. According to OECD education official Andreas Schleicher: “In the past the focus was on delivering education; now it is on learning outcomes”, and consequently “accumulating knowledge matters a lot less”. Schleicher added: “Much of that knowledge [...] can be googled”. Also in 2013, University.com declared, “a focus on skills increasingly links higher education with employment”.

The “skills agenda” has been an international focus of several major reports:

All suggest there is a “skills gap” whereby ever larger number of graduates and unfilled vacancies sit side by side.

In July 2016 a Confederation of British Industry and Pearson report citing “skills shortages” and “skills gaps”, said: “We need a more informed debate about the skills higher education offers … Another important finding from this year’s survey, is that employers see academic and vocational qualifications as having equal stature. … For too long the skills agenda has provided one of the driest debates in education. This year’s Pearson/CBI survey portrays a growing skills crisis” (5). Also in May 2016, the UK government’s white paper Success as a Knowledge Economy declared: “Employers are suffering skills shortages” (8).

UK Government Response

The UK government’s response to these reports and this issue lies behind the massive shakeup in higher education that is going through parliament in spring 2017, the Higher Education and Research Bill. However the Bill is only the latest in a whole series of major changes: notably, since July 2016, the Business, Innovation and Skills department no longer exists and its HE functions are now the responsibility of the Department for Education, specifically including “wider skills policy”. There is still a Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP. As part of these ongoing changes, the Skills Funding Agency was replaced by the Education and Skills Funding Agency in April 2017, under the DfE, and its responsibilities include apprenticeships, traineeships and careers education, although its website home-page contains no specific mention of higher education. Indeed the government’s “skills plan”, appears to be concerned with technical skills in further education. HE skills policy is instead covered by HEFCE: “Our work in this area acknowledges that higher education (HE) has a crucial role to play in supporting individuals, businesses and other organisations to develop the skills needed to maintain UK competitiveness”. The HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) Skills page declares: “Our approach to skills aims at addressing skills gaps by supporting institutions to develop and enhance provision that will ensure graduates develop a wide range of skills to enable lifelong career development.” Although “Evidence shows that employers value graduates from a wide range of disciplines” there is a skew in all these reports and communiqués towards STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics): on the HEFCE skills page under “Skills development in specific subjects” Humanities are notable by their absence. To deepen the confusion, HEFCE is to lose many of its functions in legislation currently passing through parliament, so it is not clear which body will head up HE skills issues in the future.

What is clear however is that one major objective for the government is “degree apprenticeships”, which, initially launched in 2015, will now be hugely extended (see white paper  13, 52), with universities and colleges across England awarded £4.5 million to develop degree apprenticeships from September 2017. The press had initially declared the amount to be £10 million in spring 2016; the white paper cited £8 million in July 2016 (52); in March 2017 the amount cited by the HEFCE was £4.5 million. Degree Apprenticeships are designed “to help employers get the skills they need at the highest level to increase productivity in their businesses” (white paper 52).  Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Halfon said, “Apprenticeships work, that’s why we’ve launched degree apprenticeships that give people a real chance to earn while you learn, putting you on the fast-track to a top career”.

Universities UK, the “voice of universities”, composed of VCs of all UK universities, is currently conducting a “Review of Skills” -- surveying institutions, graduates, employers, to ask questions on “skills and employability strategies, skills needs and skills gaps, and effective collaboration between universities and employers”. This follows Universities UK’s previous report, from September 2016, Higher Education in England: Provision, Skills and Graduates. However, this identifies ‘skills’ development at university as overwhelmingly positive, from the testimony of graduates, who are also positive about the careers they are able to enter, and the testimony of employers, with employers often rating satisfaction with graduates’ skills higher than did the graduates themselves. This is essentially at odds with government findings and government policy.

Current HE Provision for English Literature

Amongst current HE provision then, what is the situation regarding skills as opposed to knowledge? King’s College London makes no mention of ‘knowledge’ but uses the word ‘skills’ four times on its webpage, whilst highlighting the relevance of this to employability on the same page: “Graduates develop transferable analytical and communications skills making them highly desirable to employers across a range of sectors”. Westminster’s English Literature degree goes one better and uses the word ‘skills’ five times on its information page, stating: “employers across a range of professions and businesses value the cultural knowledge, communication and critical thinking skills of English graduates”. Arguably this adds little new to a traditional Literature degree: the difference is that this information is now highlighted in the course overview – see, for instance, Westminster’s framing of its optional modules: “Electives are an exciting opportunity to widen your experience at university and to gain skills and knowledge that will help make you more employable”. The Open University English BA information page goes three better and uses the word “skills” eight times. It states that an OU English degree will “develop advanced skills in analysis, evaluation and communication that are highly valued in the workplace”. Manchester University also flags up “highly transferrable skills”  in its English Literature information  (though not quite as prominently as Westminster or the OU), including “Independent thought and judgement” and “tolerance of ambiguity and other opinions”. York University mentions “skills” six times, and links this to employment, but makes no mention of ‘knowledge’. The University of Kent makes similar points: “English Literature graduates develop a wide range of skills that are valuable to graduate employers including: how to argue a point, how to think independently, to summarise and précis, to write and speak well, to write reports, to present information effectively and to work as part of a team”. Unlike some other institutions, Kent’s English department emphasizes work experience. Bristol University offers its English postgraduates specific “skills training”. Brunel University’s English and Creative Writing BA uses the word “skills” eleven times, but also regularly pairs it with “knowledge”, and emphasizes the transferrable skills developed in its third year project: “We focus both on acquisition of knowledge and analytical skills”.

Knowledge and English Literature

‘Knowledge’ doesn’t appear so often as ‘skills’, though the two are paired (four times) in City University’s information: their degree offers “the opportunity to develop your knowledge and skills in creative, professional and digital contexts”. Salford University  again pairs knowledge with skills, claiming its degree will help students “Gain valuable skills and knowledge which open up careers in areas such as teaching, media, publishing, marketing, administration and the civil service”. However Salford places greater emphasis on the term “knowledge” than most institutions, and declares students will gain “a sophisticated knowledge of how texts interact with their historical and social contexts”. Chester University  doesn’t readily distinguish between knowledge and skills; nor does Falmouth. Reading University’s BA information doesn’t distinguish between skills and knowledge in specific reference to employability: “Students on our ‘Communications at work’ module also undertake a short placement to explore the ways in which the skills and knowledge gained in their studies have direct application to the workplace”. At Leicester University  the emphasis is more on knowledge, with even skills enhancing knowledge rather than vice versa: “the skills acquired on these modules will complement your studies in English, broadening your knowledge and refining your thinking”. Perhaps predictably, Birkbeck’s evening study BA emphasizes knowledge only. Northampton also has no reference to skills, only knowledge. Sussex University  meanwhile offers the holy trinity, “knowledge, skills and experience”.

A 2008 paper on higher education in Europe (Andrews and Higson) showed that “soft skills” – essentially “transferrable sills” – are learned quite as much in an English degree as a Business degree (the subject of the research), including “Good written and verbal communication skills”, “The ability to work under pressure”, “The capability to communicate and interact with others, either in teams or through networking” – most of the list of skills in fact, despite the fact that an argument can be made that “professionalism” and “reliability” cannot be taught (413). According to this paper, employers went further and regarded the ability to make an argument and “think outside the box” as ‘skills’ (416), especially “analytical skills and problem solving skills” (417). An April 2016 Times Educational Supplement article concurs: “The greater the subject knowledge, the greater the ability to problem solve, to critically analyse”. A Higher Education Academy article from 2011 on studying English makes much the same points.

Research and Funding

So, for the literary researcher, how important are skills, or knowledge, or a combination in achieving postgraduate or early career funding? The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of UK, the principal body for disbursing research funding in the area, has a specific page on its website dedicated to ‘skills’, although its Collaborative Skills Development (CDS) scheme is no longer running. Regarding PhD students the AHRC clearly links gaining skills and employability: “these students will form the next generation of researchers and skilled professionals. Collaborative awards offer the opportunity for a PhD student to work with a non-academic partner, and to build employment skills. Placements and internships provide unique access to resources and contacts”.

The AHRC is currently funding an Innovate UK “knowledge transfer programme” (KTP) between Oxford and other universities and the National Trust, Trusted Source. This is particularly interesting to enterprising literary researchers, as Innovate – and KTPs – are normally associated with STEM. AHRC says, “rather than a one-sided transfer of knowledge from academia into the National Trust, the project also supports researchers and academics at all career levels with valuable opportunities for public engagement with research, by raising research profiles, offering networking opportunities with industry colleagues and opening up interdisciplinary research networks”. Trusted Source is now built into Humanities graduate training at Oxford, using both humanities and careers staff.

Leverhulme Trust’s grant schemes for early career researchers mentions knowledge and skills only in regard to visiting professorships and international academic fellowships. Interestingly Leverhulme’s Research Project Grants page states, “The Trust does not fund applications in which the main focus is on capacity building, networking, or the development of the skills of those involved”.

The British Academy has a “Flagship Skills Project” launched in January 2017 which “aims to articulate, for the first time, the skills that are inherent to the study of arts, humanities and social sciences …their value to the individual, and the contribution they do make and could make in future to society”. This follows on from 2012’s BA Skills Acquisition Awards based around mentoring with both academics and business, while in 2015 its Languages and Quantitative Skills programme offered a British Academy Skills Innovator Award.

The Difference between Skills and Knowledge

In many of the above accounts, it would arguably make no difference if the word “knowledge” were substituted for the word “skills”. Knowledge in the sense of “facts”, on the Gradgrind model, is hardly applicable to English Literature: the knowledge gained – close-reading, historicization, critical theory, presenting to peers, making an argument – is classed as ‘skills’ by HE bodies, and also it seems by many employers, whether ‘soft’ or ‘transferrable’. Indeed, the government’s white paper cites the crucial “skills that great higher education provides – the ability to think critically and assess and present evidence” (5).