Marketing Continuing Vocational Education to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: Key Issues for Higher Education Institutions

SUMMARY

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly being encouraged to develop links with and address the lifelong learning needs of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Experience to date suggests that HEIs find this a particularly difficult task. This paper sets out to raise some of the issues which need to be considered when marketing continuing vocational education (CVE) to SMEs. It draws on the University of North London's (UNL) own experience of working with SMEs, and the results of a UNL survey of other institutions and focus group discussions with managers and employees from a range of small businesses. The paper also looks at the reasons why HEIs should be working with SMEs, and which SMEs are most likely to be interested in CVE. It highlights some of the barriers which need to be overcome, and suggests strategies which HEIs can adopt to develop closer links with SMEs. Key aspects of programme design are covered, including price, content, structure and accreditation, and a variety of successful promotional strategies are described. Finally, the paper suggests that the issues raised have important implications for the funding of work with SMEs, and argues for a more coordinated approach to the funding and delivery of work in this field.