Shortly before £1,000 tuition fees were first introduced in 1998, a landmark report by Sir Ron Dearing had pointed out that employers were also “major beneficiaries of higher education through the skills which those with higher education qualifications bring to the organisations which employ them.”

This led Dearing to recommend that government should “seek an enhanced contribution” from employers towards the cost of Higher Education, or HE. Almost three decades later, these ‘enhanced contributions’ have not materialised, even though tuition fees for students have risen from £1,000 to £9,535.

A new report by Professor Dave Phoenix, Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University, which was published in April by the Higher Education Policy Institute, says it is time to reopen the conversation about employers helping meet the costs of HE.

So, what exactly has Professor Phoenix proposed? Is it fair to ask employers to pay more towards the cost of HE or are they already making a big enough contribution? And how likely is it that employers will be able to afford extra contributions when faced with so many other financial pressures?

I’m delighted to be joined by Dave Phoenix to discuss his new report, and we are also joined by Johnny Rich, Chief Executive of the Engineering Professors’ Council, who has previously written about this fascinating and controversial topic.

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No-one is surprised when a newly elected government decides to create new initiatives and new organisations to signify a change in direction and a break from the past.

Skills England, a new agency within the Department for Education, was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer just after last year’s General Election, along with his observation that “our skills system is in a mess”.

But since that announcement, Skills England has not had an easy ride, with some observers describing it as a power grab that lacks clarity and clout, while others have questioned whether we needed Skills England in the first place.

So, why has the government created Skills England? What challenges is Skills England likely to face inside and outside government? And will Skills England, as the Prime Minister promised, transform our approach to meeting skills needs over the coming decades, or will it end up causing more problems than it solves?

My guests are Kirstie Donnelly MBE, Chief Executive at the City & Guilds Group, and Rob Nitsch, Chief Executive at the Federation of Awarding Bodies.

DOWNLOAD MY REPORT ON SKILLS ENGLAND HERE: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/03/31/skills-england-will-be-in-a-battle-for-relevance-from-day-one/

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The Curriculum and Assessment Review, which is being chaired by Professor Becky Francis, was commissioned by the Department for Education last summer and will not conclude its work until this autumn.

Even so, the Review has attracted so much interest from schools, colleges, teachers, leaders and parents that the interim report from the Review, published at the end of March, was an important and high-profile milestone.

So what problems in primary and secondary education has the Review identified in its interim report? Which aspects of our curriculum and assessment system does the Review think are worth protecting, and which aspects need to be reformed? And how easy will it be for the Review to come up with solutions that are widely supported and improve outcomes for children and young people?

My guests are Mary Myatt, an education adviser, writer and speaker, and Dale Bassett, the director of assessment at United Learning, a group of over 100 schools.

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