Annual Conference 2009
The 3rd Annual GM&WL LLN conference, this year in partnership with Edge Hill Universities Collaborative Provision department was held on 7th May 2009.
The event based around the theme of ‘Celebrating Success and Investing in the Future’ introduced by John Cater took place at the brand new business school building at Edge Hill’s Ormskirk campus. Over 90 colleagues from a wide range of businesses and education institutions from across the UK were in attendance.
Speakers on the day were Professor Graham Henderson. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Teesside who gave a presentation titled ‘Contributing to economic success through Collaborative Working: Some thoughts & experiences from Teesside’. The presentation highlighted the successes and a few challenges faced by Graham and his staff when working collaboratively. He drew on his experience of higher education to deliver a speech that was not only entertaining and engaging but also left colleagues with some interesting talking points.
Next to speak was Diane Mardell, Regional Director of Skills for Health. Diane’s presentation ‘Workforce Skills: Better by Design’ gave an overview of Sector Skills Councils and the current state of workforce skills and then gave the audience and insight into the priorities of the health sector in the North West.
The day then continued with a presentation titled ‘The Economic Impact of Higher Education’. The talk given by Steve Igoe, Pro Vice-Chancellor (resources), Edge Hill University was particularly fitting given the current state of the economy. Steve was able to break down what is meant by economic impact and then relate this to higher education institutions in the UK. He was also able to dispel the myth that the economy is all about money and explained how higher education has an impact in other areas – notably on the community, the acquisition of learning and skills and the impact on health. Steve finished by explaining why HE institutions are important for the economy.
Delegates were then asked to attend one of several break-out sessions, each with a topic that is highly relevant to lifelong learning and HE in general. These included ‘Universities meeting the needs of employers’, ‘Engaging with Employers’ and FEC’s: Working with Employers to up-skill the workforce’. These sessions gave colleagues the opportunity to listen to others experiences of topics relevant to them and also proved a good opportunity for best-practice sharing.
After lunch, the presentations were re-started by Gary Mallon, with a talk titled ‘The Student Experience’. He presented the audience with a number of students who fit the LLN mould and asked them to talk about why they had chosen to come back to education and their experiences so far. This proved to be an eye-opening and interesting session as it gave an insight into the student perspective of education.
Jack Stopforth, Chief Executive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and Industry then gave a talk about the ‘Employers Perspective’. Jack was able to convey his thoughts and opinions to the audience using examples from his experience both as an employer and in his current role and this proved extremely helpful for all those in attendance.
Professor Rhiannon Evans MBE then summed up the day. As one of the founders of the GM&WL LLN, Rhiannon was able to offer an insight into Lifelong Learning Networks and how they have progressed since their inception. She highlighted the success stories and the challenges faced during their initial 3 year period.