At a national conference in Sheffield Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, called for more practical courses with ‘on the job training’ to equip emerging housing and regeneration professionals with a broader range of skills.
The event – ‘Sustainable communities: what’s next for the skills agenda?’ - hosted by the HCA Academy and Sheffield Hallam University, explored employers’ skills needs and assessed how higher education institutions can contribute to the skills agenda.
At a national conference in Sheffield Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, called for more practical courses with ‘on the job training’ to equip emerging housing and regeneration professionals with a broader range of skills.
The event – ‘Sustainable communities: what’s next for the skills agenda?’ - hosted by the HCA Academy and Sheffield Hallam University, explored employers’ skills needs and assessed how higher education institutions can contribute to the skills agenda.
Delegates discussed the need for:
Practitioners with a greater mix of skills including generic skills like project management
More multi-disciplinary courses to break down barriers between professionals
Broader continuing professional development programmes tailored to a wider range of people
Accredited bite-sized training for busy practitioners
Work-related learning
Improved knowledge exchange.
Addressing 120 practitioners, local employers and higher education institutions, Sir Bob Kerslake citied the HCA Academy’s Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities as an excellent example of a joint approach to learning.
Sir Bob Kerslake said:
“Emphasising the crucial connection between practitioners and the wider higher education sector is key. The foundation degree offers a way of practically connecting what higher education can bring with what employers need. The Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities at Sheffield Hallam University encourages new ideas and new approaches and is the foundation of strong working relationships.”
We launched the UK’s first ever Foundation Degree in Sustainable Communities at Sheffield Hallam University in January 2008. The part-time degree course uses a mixed mode of delivery, including block release, e-learning and work-based projects, to enable students to benefit from learning in a real-world context.
The foundation degree content includes: understanding sustainable communities; social and economic sustainability; society, cities and politics; and the environment.
As well as teaching students about the core disciplines of planning, architecture and surveying, the programme is based on a multi-disciplinary approach to learning and focuses on the generic skills needed to have a positive impact on communities, including partnership working, community consultation and governance.
The foundation degree will be available in every English region by 2011.
