Education and skills are core to our business performance. Competence in business begins with being able. Ability comes from training and learning.
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce Education and Skills group meets regularly and engages in a robust way with the issue surrounding the future of people skills in business. As much as anything, we ask "What can businesses do to contribute to the needs of Scotland's future?" rather than simply making demands on the educational system for what we want to see.
The group is chaired by Ray Harris Ray.Harris@ed-coll.ac.uk, Principal and Chief Executive of Edinburgh's Telford College who will be happy to consider new members, and your views on the issues. We are currently strengthening the group with more participants from commerce and industry, and are grateful for the input of Chamber member Baillie Gifford stephen.leach@bailliegifford.com who have done much to advance the group through hosting and contacts.
Past input has included contributions to the Scottish Government's Skills Strategy, where our support for a unified approach to careers advice has become the model. We have developed cogent views on a range of subjects:
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Language teaching
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Capitalising on the value of migrant workers
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Identifying and publicising sectors with evident skills shortages
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Work experience opportunities for students of lasting value
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Internationals standards for vocational qualifications
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Removing the hierarchy between 'academic' and 'vocational' as being areas of equal value and different purpose
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Supporting and promoting R&D and innovation
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Buttressing new emergent technologies and their market potential
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Promoting the value of the disciplines of science mathematics and engineering
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Modelling best practice in enlightening young people about careers in business
Click the links below to view Minutes of recent meetings:
