Relationship development and maintenance Chris Keenan and Penny Mitchell Bournemouth University

Barriers from employers’ perspective. “It’s a superb resource to use and like everybody else I forget it’s there” One employer described their experience of communication with an HEI “Very poor. I would have to say very poor”. “if there’s no financial benefit to the company to make an investment in time, people…it can be restrictive because we just can’t afford to do it”, “when his (former student’s) placement was coming up to an end, I couldn’t find the right person to speak to get another one in, so we could have had another placement in this year but we didn’t get one…” “The fear would be that industry moves more quickly whereas it can take time for the academic agenda to move” “We’re having to chase universities up. We put more effort in to universities than they put in.”

Good practice from employers’ perspective. “I can pick up the phone any time during the day and I’ve got a contact point who knows our students and has access to all the information..” “One point of contact would probably clear up all the issues I had this year so easily” “I think it would just be getting their (the institution’s) communication lines correct, you know a dedicated address”. “I would expect the staff person to be knowledgeable.” and “it needs to be a wise business person that’s seen a few scars..” The person visiting would need to be “the interpreter” between business and academia. It would be proactive marketing in the language of the people the interpreter is talking to.

Discussion Q. Do you know how employers make that first contact with your institution? Q. What did the employer have in mind when he spoke of the need for “an interpreter”?