Not a good idea, considering that education shoudl be about a better future, not compromises between eductaors and teh industries that ignore climate change and other social and environmental problems associated with fossil fuels

yes, there is many ways to do this.

Linking industry needs with educations approaches, in other words, modifying education programs to match needs of the industry is a science.

Here in the US we work with Industrial Advisory Boards, where industry representatives help shape the educational offerings to match the needs of industry (after all we do want our graduates to be employed after graduation). Typically these boards are formed by university initiative and are composed of senior managers that meet regularly with university administrators and faculty to reflect on where the industrial needs are going and what the institutions graduates contribute (and pinpoint weaknesses).  They have an advisory role, but their feedback is invaluable to ensure that the university's programs and curricula are aligned with the jobs available and the needs of employers.  On the other hand - and this is with regards to Helen's answer - this communication flows both ways, and concerns stemming from the perhaps more holistic and less economically driven academic environment can also be conveyed to the industry players (and specially if governmental agencies are also participating - there can be a lot of good input from both sides that may help to shape regulatory measures)

Ehtics ahhh. On fossil fuels I am with you but......

if we take this as a discussion just about partnerships between business and education, then the schools and business can have a good experience and learn a lot from the partnership. Education and business can speak a different language but communicating about young people supports partners to be able to understand each others worlds. Admittedly the work I have focussed on has not covered the ethical dimension discussed by Helen but we have talked about life skills needed once the job interview is out of the way.

• Can you get up in the morning?
• Speaking in more than one syllable is important and so is remembering to smile.
• When can you play Candy Crush and when is it advisable to switch your iPad off and get on with work? (Political comment for UK residents)

Businesses have questioned schools about whether they really create work ready young people? How are we developing young people to have the skills for jobs that have, potentially, not even been thought of yet?

In the West Midlands UK our growth sector may well be in hi tech industries.  Are we developing young people who see themselves as being part of that world? How are we getting girls ready for jobs in science and engineering when they do not see themselves in those roles?

Positives of this partnership for business are:

• developing work ready young people  for the jobs that are out there.
• creating a workforce that is prepared for the work of the future.

Strong resilient communities  are good for business. That would include an ethically aware questioning workforce. I don't think partnering business has to preclude questioning over ethical issues. It is important to have agreements that prevent inappropriate influence but that would be outlined in any working agreement.

Positives for education

• Funding
• Expertise
• Real world studies for students
• Parents become partners in their journey 

Positives for young people

• They understand the skills they need to be ready for work
• They can share and value those skills
• They see themselves in careers that are outside their experience
• Better engagement with the process (done with and not done to)
• More resilience 

What is being created 

• Courses and tools to support transition into the world of work that start from induction into nursery and involves training parents.
• Resilient communities with employed workforce.
• Experiences for teachers, parents and young people that give them an insight into jobs that they may not have experienced otherwise.

How do we get our young people to see themselves as the workforce of tomorrow?

How do we get our young people to see themselves as the workforce of tomorrow if they are third generation unemployed?

How do we get business to reach out and offer work experience of a kind that makes our young people want to work for them?

How do we develop young people who are resilient, well balanced, healthy, happy, resourced and social?

I am with Helen!

Thanks for all

Very interesting discussion.

From the educational side, they feel that its not their task to make young men and women ready for jobs as they are working on other different aspects related to grow them up with life values, develop their awareness of themselves, surrounding society and the world around them. This is mainly focusing on the knowledge/skills they need to cope with life which  suppose to be general ones and then its the turn of others to shape them according to their needs.

What do you think?

Dear Dr. Khalid Salim Al-Jardani,

Students should of course be prepared for jobs! But a real education system (NOT EDUCATION INDUSTRIES!!!) has as first objective to give a real scientific background to the students, irrespectively of future jobs. There might be the last year of undergraduate studies or a Master Degree, which give to the student more jobs oriented education. In any way, the oil and gas industries, if they want to help the education system, they may support economically without demanding a special program. The relationships between indusry and education is very delicate and should be treated carefully!  

Thanks,

This can be done a bit earlier which would be with the selection of their college level studies. However, the question is do different industries give any kind of support for the educationalist and education?!

Dear Dr. Khalid Salim,

Yes, one may make 3rd and 4th year more jobs oriented! As for an example of a University supported by industries, this is "Stanford University", which have been established by the silicon valley, industries. however Stanford is one of the best Universities in the World. The industries demanded to have one of the best University and not one that produces only specialised professionals!  

I like the visual of a polyhedron of intelligibility and the language of life ready rather than work ready. Bringing sides together creates the opportunity to see the big picture and understand how things link together.

if you have great teaching and learning you have space to think about other things. With educational contexts that have outstanding practice you find they also reach out beyond the essential. I don't want the young person within our learning communities to pass an exam I want them to pass well and then go on and do something with it.

Our data suggested that we were good at giving young people qualifications but that they were not going into jobs that were available within our communities. We also had a higher percentage of unemployment within our young adult population than within other sectors of the community. Businesses told us that they found that young people were getting the interviews, being offered the job and then not staying in the employment.

The answer to this issue was to look at what we could learn when we partnered business and education together.

it was this that developed the idea of life ready skills. 

The partnership and benefits have been multi-faceted. 

One area that has been developing is an annual focus on programming where industry and educational contexts linked to create interest in a subject that was felt essential but was not getting buy-in from young people or schools. Schools lacked confidence and this partnership supported with teacher confidence and created great learning experiences. 

The support from business has been both practical and linked to resources. 

Interestingly from the business side they also learnt about some of the challenges within the communities they were getting their employees from. With social deprivation being high on the index of three localities understanding their communities has really helped develop partnerships focussed on creating healthier communities.

I am not sure how universities linked into this as the focus was on the age range 3-18. 

The industry-academia collaborations are important for the excellence in applied research and capacity building. These consortia will offer an excellent opportunity for researchers in the industry and academia to join forces for collaborative studies to develop new environmentally friendly techniques for producing conventional and unconventional oil and gas. The partnership will help in bringing the best from across academia, industry and government also to one platform, where they can exchange their views and scientific research findings.

The education and research partnership established between the Institute of Energy Research and Training (IERT), University of Jammu (India); Eni Milan; Getenergy Limited; MPRG, University College London; University of Durham and Energy and Geoscience Institute (EGI), University of Utah is truly a model for successful academic-industrial collaboration in the development of energy related infrastructure in developing countries.

The question raised here is very pertinent. In the most countries the situation is quite similar. However one has to understand the compulsions of the industry to balance between the need to interact with educational institutions and the commitment to fund to the institutions. In a limited sense of providing and sharing knowledge to faculty and students the industry has been always helpful. However when the institutions expect inflow of funds to the institutions then the issue of cost benefit becomes overriding.