University
•
Ravensbourne University London responds to Government’s Industrial Strategy and unveils progressive new plans
Publication date:
Industry leaders, policymakers, and charities were in attendance at Ravensbourne University London’s Built for Industry event, designed to highlight and discuss strategic, collaborative approaches to addressing workforce development challenges.
The university outlined the Government’s new Industrial Strategy in detail, before unveiling how our own new 2030 strategy represents a dynamic response by seeking to improve skills shortages in the creative, business, and technology sectors, and meeting industry needs through our academic programmes.
The night began with opening remarks from Ravensbourne’s Vice-Chancellor, Andy Cook, who said: “The creative and technologies sectors were identified as two of the industries that have most potential to supercharge the UK economy, which is heartening for us as this is a key focus for Ravensbourne’s new corporate strategy.
Andy Cook quote
The question on everyone’s lips now is how do we all work together - educationalists, industry leaders, local and central Government - to maximise the opportunities that these plans bring?”
The first speaker of the night was Elena Margini, Head of Global Research at labour market analytics company Lightcast. Margini discussed how the Government’s new strategy would impact skills requirements over the next ten years, presenting attendees with detailed labour market forecasting.
Elena Margini quote
Agility is key. We can’t afford any more to have rigidity in the system because the labour market is changing so fast that if we want workers and students to be able to fly in the labour market, we need to be agile in the way that we serve them and provide education to them.”
This provided useful context for the employer panel debate which followed. Hosted by Ravensbourne’s Director of Innovation, Industry and Enterprise, Lawrence Lartey, industry professionals from Edit Cloud, Royal Borough of Greenwich and the Southeast London Chamber of Commerce discussed the future of their sectors, as well as the pivotal role further and higher education institutions will have over the next five years.
Simon Green quote
Students need to be hungry and curious and ask “if I’m learning this, what could this lead me to next time?” So you’re always horizon-mapping, that’s what industry needs.”
The Government have called for greater open dialogue between education providers and industry. The panel of industry leaders who attended this event is demonstrative of Ravensbourne’s longstanding commitment to collaborating with and learning alongside industry, and showcases that the institution is already well poised to capitalise on the opportunities that the Government’s new framework has to offer.
Andy Cook set out Ravensbourne’s detailed response to the Government’s new strategy, touching on a number of key areas of focus: adapting existing practices to create the workforce of the future; continuing collaborations with industry; research and knowledge exchange; supporting key infrastructure and ecosystems; and providing leadership in sustainable practices.
He finished his address by outlining the synergies between the government’s plans and Ravensbourne’s 2030 strategy, which launched today. With this new strategy, we will focus on the trifecta of creativity, business, and technology and how they can dovetail to maximise growth, innovation, and market potential.
Bolstered by the new emphasis on the creative and technology sectors, the institution is now uniquely positioned to ensure that today’s Ravensbourne students are tomorrow’s changemakers.
Andy Cook quote
At Ravensbourne we are constantly listening and thinking about how we can meet the skills needs of tomorrow.”
You can find out more about our mission and 2030 strategy here.
Built for Industry
