Establishing a Centre for Employability Excellence
IEP has established a Centre for Employability Excellence. We provide a comprehensive point of access to research and good practice about ‘what works’ and why in employability, and a discussion forum that is open to all sectors of the employability profession. This resource helps us all to work together, share our insights and develop the quality of employability services.
We begin our work by establishing a co-operative Advisory Group, which gives us direction and supports our practical steps, including a series of open-access international seminars by leading researchers and exponents, to be followed in due course by open webinars, and an online discussion forum.
The Centre produces an open-access prototype online searchable catalogue of original research and best practice, and moves on to invite researchers, commissioners, policy makers, employability delivery organisations and employability professionals to contribute their own findings and use this resource to discover the most relevant, informative and useful sources for their work.
The IEP Journal is an established forum for more structured debate around important themes for employability services. It builds a reputation for bringing academic and practical discussions together, to give direction to programme developments.
This work encourages the application, and supports the work of academics and institutions worldwide. It helps to link quality improvement to best practice and learning, so that anyone involved in employability is able to provide the most effective possible support. It contributes to commissioning and delivery of high quality programmes. It is also an added-value service for all IEP Partners and stakeholders, and we work with them to ensure they benefit from all the Centre offers them. And, not least, it supports the open discussion of the complex questions that surround any employability delivery.
International dimension
Respecting the international nature of employability services alongside individual country differences, the IEP invites organisations from our growing links with 12 countries including Sweden, Australia, Canada, KSA, UAE, South Korea, and the Netherlands. Contributors outside this network are also welcome on equal terms. They all contribute and benefit from the Centre for Employability Excellence, sharing ideas, research, knowledge, best practice, and effective delivery methods globally.
Working with others
Guided by our Advisory Group and contributors generally we aim to build partnerships with organisations who help all to get the maximum value from the Centre. The valuable contributions from our initial partners can only be enhanced by others who join. Ensuring the Centre operates in an inclusive and open way with a raft of interested and engaged UK and international stakeholders is a key guiding principle from day one.