Education department to examine TEF link to graduate skills

The Department for Education has published a list of research topics for higher education policy that it believes fits with ‘key departmental priorities’.

The role that the Teaching Excellence Framework’s can play in ensuring graduates have skills that can benefit the economy has been identified as a priority area of research by the department.

The relationship between “skills needs” in national and local economies and the “qualifications of our labour force” should be researched further, according to the Areas of Research Interest document published on 17 May. Specifically, the education department is interested in how spending decisions, careers advice and the TEF can “improve effectiveness” when it comes to matching graduates’ skills with economic demand.