New initiative seeks to increase youth employability

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Patrick Woodman of the Chartered Management Institute discusses the new Campus CMI programme and its aim to improve young people's employability.

Could you tell us about Campus CMI and why it has been launched?

Campus CMI is a new initiative being launched by the Chartered Management Institute, giving young people the opportunity to take professional team leading and management qualifications alongside their GCSEs.

We are doing this on the basis of feedback from employers who are struggling to get students with the correct, practical work-based skills.

What perception do employers have of the quality of employment skills amongst school leavers?

The CMI has published a short report entitled 'Tomorrow's Leaders'looking at these questions from a managerial perspective, and some of this makes for quite worrying reading.

69% of employers believe that failures within the education system are damaging the UK’s economic performance and 75% say that it is contributing to a skills crisis. Only one-fifth overall agree that the education system is developing young people’s skills to a satisfactory level.

We are seeing particular problems around skills such as communication, team leading and management and commercial awareness, as well as concerns about areas such as attitude, ambition and discipline.

How will Campus CMI seek to tackle these issues?

Campus CMI gives students the opportunity to take qualifications at either level 2 or level 3, alongside their GCSEs or A levels. This is an employer-led initiative with some major employers such as Waitrose, Centrica and the National Grid, focusing on key workplace skills, such as building working relationships, decision-making and teamwork.

We have already been trailing this in 115 schools across England and Wales, through which we have delivered around 1,500 CMI qualifications.

We plan to double this figure to around 3,000 by the end of 2011 and then deliver 10,000 within five years. We have had an excellent response from schools so far and we see the idea going from strength to strength.

Will Campus CMI ensure that school leavers have higher levels of employability?

It will certainly help as one of a number of initiatives. Campus CMI is rooted in what employers want to see from school leavers. We know from the experiences of students that have taken the courses that there has been a significant impact on their understanding of the workplace and the expectations that employers are going to have.

We want to utilise Campus CMI to get young people excited about their careers and provide them with a passport into the workplace.

How can parliamentarians get involved with Campus CMI?

The CMI will set up visits to the schools that are involved for local MPs, so that they can see the difference that the programme is making. We would be delighted to hear from any MPs who want to find out more.

For more information please contact Patrick Woodman at Patrick.Woodman@managers.org.uk

The dedicated Campus CMI website can be viewed here- www.managers.org.uk/CampusCMI