University for industry to boost skills

EDUCATION and training will be revolutionised by plans to offer training to 400,000 people within five years through the new University for Industry, ministers promised yesterday.

A prospectus for the pounds 50m venture said it would be working with tens of thousands of companies within two years of its launch in 2000. Ministers want the university to help people take training courses during their lunch breaks, or in libraries and shopping centres using computer technology.

Much work will be in raising basic reading and maths skills and providing computer training to small and medium firms.

David Blunkett, the Education Secretary, said: "Our vision is that the University for Industry will revolutionise the way people learn. It will do so by harnessing a range of technologies, from the telephone and television to the Internet. Like the Open University, it will become an integral part of our national life."

The UFI will not be a university in the conventional sense, but will act to raise the profile of vocational education and training among business and individuals. It will act as a clearing house for training courses, putting employers and people in touch with colleges or new hi-tech learning centres.

The university will also monitor skill shortages and commission courses to fill gaps, as well as helping to develop educational software for use over the Internet. Similar work is already under way in hundreds of colleges. But the education minister Baroness Blackstone said a new national body was needed to drive down costs and stimulate demand for training. "It will ensure that British industry will be able to compete with the best in the world; we see the University for Industry leading the learning revolution."

The university will focus on four priorities - literacy and numeracy skills; information and communications technologies; management of small and medium-sized businesses and specific industrial sectors.

Targets announced yesterday include bringing courses to 35,000 retail and distribution firms, 700 businesses in the car industry and 500 hi- tech multimedia firms.

Lord Sainsbury, who will chair the university board, said it was essential to raise skill levels across the economy.