Using internationalisation to drive business engagement and graduate employability at

Nottingham Trent University

Opportunities and Challenges for Higher Education Institutions in the Process of Transformation, Kunming

4 November 2014

Professor Nigel HealeyPro-Vice-Chancellor (International)

Nottingham Trent University

Overview

• What is the history of NTU?

• What is the national UK policy framework within which NTU operates today?

• How does NTU support economic and social development?

• Case study: How does NTU use internationalisation to support business engagement and graduate employability?

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The history of NTU: from vocational college to university of applied sciences

• NTU founded in 1843 as Nottingham Government School of Design

• Other vocational colleges (eg, Technology, Commerce, Education) opened in Nottingham

• In the 1960s, UK government decides to expand higher education: merged colleges to create new polytechnics (universities of applied science)

• Trent Polytechnic set up in 1970

• Polytechnics were owned and managed by local governments; degrees (to PhD) were awarded by a national agency

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The history of NTU: from university of applied sciences to comprehensive university

• In 1988, the government decided to abolish polytechnics and convert them to comprehensive universities

• In 1992, the polytechnics were incorporated as independent legal entities, granted degree awarding powers and became universities

• Trent Polytechnic became Nottingham Trent University (NTU)

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NTU retains its historical commitment to business engagement and graduate employability, updated for the 21st Century

What is the national UK policy framework within which NTU operates today?

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State Private

Mixed

What is the national UK policy framework within which NTU operates today?

• “Mixed” national policy framework

• UK universities are autonomous, non-for-profit corporations– Universities own their own land and buildings, employ their own

staff, borrow on their own account

• UK government has public policy objectives for higher education:– Research – universities create new knowledge which can be

commercialised by business– Teaching – universities build a skilled, productive labour force– Teaching - by widening access to higher education, universities can

reduce unemployment and social inequality

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What is the national UK policy framework within which NTU operates today?

• UK government achieves its public policy objectives for higher education by “steering” universities:– Subsidising universities through “arms length” agencies (eg,

tuition, research, business engagement)– Overseeing quality of teaching and research– Retaining powers to direct universities (eg, limit tuition fees)– Promoting competition (eg, National Student Survey)– Controlling entry to the higher education market

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What is the national UK policy framework within which NTU operates today?

• UK universities remain subject to influence and control by national government…

• …but they also operate in a highly competitive environment, competing for faculty, students, research and commercial funding

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How does NTU support economic and social development?

• Core objectives of a university: creating knowledge (research) and disseminating knowledge (teaching)

• NTU can support economic and social development by collaborating with its key stakeholders: government, businesses and society

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How does NTU collaborate with government?

• Research which informs policy: gambling addition

• Teaching which creates opportunity for all: “widening participation”

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National UK research audits now include “impact” assessments

How does NTU collaborate with industry?

• Collaboration to commercialise research: advanced textiles

• Collaboration to improve graduate employability:

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How does NTU collaborate with society?

• Collaboration to improve local communities: Community Volunteering, Schools Volunteering, NTU Sport Volunteering

• Collaboration to put NTU at the heart of the city’s culture:

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Case study: How does NTU use internationalisation to support business engagement and graduate employability?

• NTU retains its historical commitment to business engagement and graduate employability

• What does this mean in the 21st Century?

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Business engagement: supporting UK businesses to succeed in the global market

Graduate employability: preparing graduates to succeed in the global labour force

Internationalisation is the key

Internationalisation @ NTU

• The objectives of NTU are:– Teaching - to provide students with an international learning

environment which prepares them to be highly employable global citizens

– Research – to ensure research is internationally connected to the best on the world

• Providing an international learning experience means:– Having an international curriculum (including foreign languages)– Providing students with a range of outbound mobility opportunities– Having a diverse, multinational student population– Attracting international academics and researchers from around

the world

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How does internationalisation increase graduate employability?

• The future will be global:– Graduates need foreign language skills and cross-cultural

competencies to succeed in a globalised labour force

• The future will be different in ways that we cannot predict:– Graduates will need to be flexible and adaptable and able to think

creatively and critically– New international experiences create “ontological shocks” (new

ways of seeing the world)

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Using internationalisation to support business engagement

• Four simple facts:– The UK is a small nation, which lives by exporting

goods and services– Its traditional export markets (in Europe and North

America) are growing slowly– Nottingham has two major universities which attract

international students from around the world (5% of the city’s population)

– International students come from fast-growing countries (China, India, Nigeria)

• One conclusion:– NTU (and the University of Nottingham) can support

businesses by matching export companies with international students

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Using internationalisation to support business engagement

• The model:– NTU places students with businesses for long-

term and short-term internships and live consultancy projects

– NTU places international students with export companies seeking opportunities in the students’ home country

• The benefits:– The international students gain valuable work

experience with a UK company– The business gets international expertise, usually

combined with discipline-specific knowledge (eg, international marketing or deign)

– Nottingham has international ambassadors when the graduates return home

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Conclusions

• NTU has a long history (170 years) with a strong tradition of vocational education

• NTU operates in a mixed policy environment, where it must respond to government objectives for social and economic development while competing for students, staff and revenue

• NTU supports social and economic development by collaborating with its external stakeholders: government, industry and society

• In the 21st Century, internationalisation is key to supporting business engagement and graduate employability

• NTU uses its international students to support export companies seeking new markets

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