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Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½) has been recognised for its skills training and start-up support in a Government measure showing the contribution universities make to society and the economy.

Â鶹´«Ã½ achieved the highest ranking possible for Continuing Professional Development – professional training courses for businesses - and student and graduate start-ups in the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) which was published today. (Weds Sept 27).

The KEF is a way of assessing how universities create and share knowledge that benefits businesses, the public sector, communities, research, and how well they drive local economic growth.

Â鶹´«Ã½ is committed to helping tackle the skills gap in the region, working with employers to help them upskill their staff and find new talent. The East Midlands has low skills levels and high rates of low-paid jobs, and employers struggle to find people with the right skills, hindering job creation and economic growth.

Last year, learners logged 41,894 days studying on CPD programmes run by Â鶹´«Ã½ in topics ranging from cyber security to leadership and management. In the same period, some 131 businesses were started by students and graduates supported by Â鶹´«Ã½ Careers Team and the Crucible business incubation programme.  

Professor Mike Kagioglou, Pro Vice-Chancellor Research Business and Innovation said: “At Â鶹´«Ã½, we recognise the important role we have to play in supporting our communities, our economy and making a positive difference to people’s lives.

“We are proud of the different ways in which Â鶹´«Ã½ works with external partners and creates jobs in the local economy through start-ups and applied research. A key part of our focus is to work with employers to tackle the skills gap in the region and I am particularly pleased to see our CPD work with businesses given the top rating possible, along with our continuing excellence in supporting start-ups.”

Â鶹´«Ã½ Business School’s executive education team run training for companies including Housing 21, a leading not for profit provider of retirement living and extra care homes, working across the country. This month saw its latest graduates on the Level 5 Management programme receive their University Certificates in Professional Development at Curve Theatre.

“Studying this course at Â鶹´«Ã½ has really given me the confidence and helped me to grow and develop,” said Shaf Hussain, an accountant with the company, based in Birmingham. “I’m now doing the postgraduate programme which I never thought I would do, but I am enjoying it so much. It has been really enlightening.”

David Parkes, Director of Library and Learning Services at Â鶹´«Ã½ said: “The supportive, imaginative and innovative work demonstrated by the team is tremendously valued by students as evidenced by this result. Outstanding work.”

Simon Baines, who manages Â鶹´«Ã½ Entrepreneurship, said: “Our phenomenal students and graduates demonstrate a huge appetite and appreciation for developing and applying entrepreneurial skills via a comprehensive schedule of enterprise programmes, events and competitions leading to this result. 

"We look forward to celebrating their achievements at our annual Awards event in November.” 

STORIES BEHIND THE STATISTICS

Â鶹´«Ã½ has been able to showcase work on projects including:

• A groundbreaking AI collaboration with Leicester City Council, to help public health officials create tailored plans to tackle obesity
• Delivering net zero and sustainability business plans for SMEs to help them on the road to net zero, as part of a £1m project
• How Â鶹´«Ã½ used a £100,000 award from Barclays to tackle high Covid-19 infection rates across Leicester, tackle the digital divide that left low-income families without tech, and help for the homeless.
• Our partnership with Barclays Eagle Labs, based at the Innovation Centre on campus, allows the university to offer more support to start-ups looking to scale
• Our ART:AI Festival which showcases the latest research and tech-generated art from Â鶹´«Ã½ and global partners in venues in and around Leicester

The KEF dashboard is updated every year, and universities are invited to include two narratives to help give context to the metrics. Each university is grouped into clusters of similar-sized institutions to ensure fair comparisons. Â鶹´«Ã½ is in the largest group, Cluster E, alongside 28 other modern universities including Coventry, Derby and Nottingham Trent.

 Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Executive Chair of Research England, said: “Across the breadth of higher education, institutions make rich and diverse contributions to the economy and society through their knowledge exchange activities.

“The KEF continues to be a powerful tool to describe the breadth of scope of knowledge exchange. It also provides important evidence of different university strengths through peer group comparisons. KEF is now in its third year and the method has been rigorously tested and begins to give us a picture of changes in performance over time.”