It looks a good bet that when the Lord Browne review of HE funding and student finance reports later this year it will feature a call for greater industry engagement and for industry to share more of the costs of teaching the graduates they employ. In an article in the Times Higher this week, Frazer Mackenzie the Head of the School of Applied Production at Bucks New University claims that further industry engagement should be embraced and that it has the potential to benefit all parties.
He writes that "both higher education and industry need to put the old divisions to one side and reassess what we can offer one another". He suggests that whilst industry partners can input into course content and help maintain course relevance, HE can provide industry with ready-made graduates and a test-bed for developing new ideas.