CBI highlights IQ partnership with University of Derby

SUCCESSFUL collaboration between the Institute of Quarrying (IQ), the Institute of Asphalt Technology (IAT) and the University of Derby, has been highlighted in a new CBI-Universities UK report entitled ‘Stepping Higher’, which looks at how business and universities can work together to improve the skills of the UK workforce.

The report underlines the advantages for businesses of working with higher education to create training programmes which deliver the skills they need, as well as suggesting ways in which universities can tap into this market by making themselves more accessible to business.

Sponsored by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, ‘Stepping Higher’ contains several case studies of companies and organizations that are already successfully working with universities.

One of these case studies focuses on the IQ and IAT, who, together with the University of Derby, have created the industry’s first-ever recognized higher-education programmes leading to new university diplomas in Quarry Technology and Asphalt Technology.

The president of Universities UK, Prof. Rick Trainor, described this partnership as one of a number of ‘excellent illustrations’ of how employers and universities are already working together for their mutual benefit.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, added: ‘A strong relationship between business and university sectors is critical to helping the UK maintain competitiveness, and the economic downturn makes it even more important for employers to strengthen workforce skills as competitive pressures intensify.’