The University for Industry‐‐a flagship for demand‐led training, or another doomed supply‐side intervention?

Abstract

The University for Industry (UfI) forms the centrepiece of the UK Government's policies for education and training. Presented as a 21st‐century follow‐up to the Open University and seeking to exploit modern broadband communication technologies, the concept is being offered as an ambitious attempt to address shortcomings in UK training strategy. The UfI expects to stimulate novel forms of training, while generating higher levels of individual participation and greater commitment from employers. It expects to achieve this through a national learning network accessible in the home and workplace via TV, cable, satellite and the Internet (Hillman, 1996). Although the deficiencies of UK training strategies are fully documented, there has been little critical assessment to date of the extent to which a supply‐side intervention of the kind proposed by the UfI will prove any more successful than earlier efforts. Policy gains are likely to flow only if the UfI succeeds in sponsoring a genuinely demand‐led training culture in the UK. Success in creating an accessible infrastructure for education and training will depend on a readiness to nuture existing developments, while avoiding technological utopianism in the process.