Libby Hackett, Chief Executive of University Alliance, took part in a live Guardian webchat looking at:
- The role of universities in stimulating economic growth
- Strengthening ties between research and industry
- Debate around the skills and employability agenda
- Curriculum design and vocational versus academic
- Funding and policy reforms
In Libby’s opening statement she said:
“It used to be that investment in infrastructure and physical capital (big machinery) was the best way to drive economic growth. We are now living a world where human capital is the primary indicator of economic growth. In the words of President Obama: ‘those who out-educate us today will out-perform us tomorrow’. Despite all the rhetoric in the UK about too many graduates, too many universities, needing more apprenticeships etc, the evidence suggests that it is the size and quality of our graduate output that will determine our future economic prosperity as a nation.”
You can take a look at the full transcript of the webchat here.
