Employers' experience of Higher Apprenticeships: benefits and barriers

This report explores employers’ experience and understanding of Higher Apprenticeships. It is based on a survey of almost 200 companies and follow-up interviews with eleven employers. The findings suggest that there is strong support for Higher Apprenticeships amongst employers although there are many employers who have yet to engage with this programme. Employers that have implemented Higher Apprenticeships report a range of business benefits, but they were also clear that appropriate funding has to be in place to support these programmes. Employers generally thought that the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships would improve employee retention, help them to train people in the way they thought necessary and would enhance their company’s skills base. Barriers that had mitigated against the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships included the cost of introducing a Higher Apprenticeship programme, the work needed in making the business ‘higher apprentice friendly’ and findings appropriate apprenticeship frameworks and training providers. Companies that had successfully embedded Higher Apprenticeships had typically developed an approach to recruitment which enabled them to identify and select the best apprentices. Companies also set up management processes to ensure that higher apprentices were well supported and able to progress and developed effective partnerships with training providers.Funded by the European Social Fund and the Skills Funding Agenc

NHBC Foundation: improving recruitment of young people into home building : a literature review

This literature review was undertaken to support research into young people's attitudes to careers in house building. The review is based on database searches supplemented by the evidence gathered during stakeholder interviews and through requests made to the wider careers and home building sectors. In order to fully answer the main research questions, the literature mapping the barriers faced by young people to working within the sector was explored. Based on the review a set of criteria for analysing and categorising industry sector initiatives will also be developed. The criteria will be presented as a separate compendium of opportunities.National House Builders Council Foundatio

Tacit knowledge elicitation process for industry 4.0

Manufacturers migrate their processes to Industry 4.0, which includes new technologies for improving productivity and efficiency of operations. One of the issues is capturing, recreating, and documenting the tacit knowledge of the aging workers. However, there are no systematic procedures to incorporate this knowledge into Enterprise Resource Planning systems and maintain a competitive advantage. This paper describes a solution proposal for a tacit knowledge elicitation process for capturing operational best practices of experienced workers in industrial domains based on a mix of algorithmic techniques and a cooperative game. We use domain ontologies for Industry 4.0 and reasoning techniques to discover and integrate new facts from textual sources into an Operational Knowledge Graph. We describe a concepts formation iterative process in a role game played by human and virtual agents through socialization and externalization for knowledge graph refinement. Ethical and societal concerns are discussed as well

Portmerion, Proportion and Perspective

The holiday village of Portmerion was created by Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883 1978) over a period of fifty-one years, starting in 1926. It was grade II listed in 1971. However, Portmerion has become a part of western popular culture rather than of mainstream architectural history. Its use as the setting for the cult 1967 television series “The Prisoner” ensures continued worldwide interest and a constant stream of visitors. Williams Ellis’ design methods were empirical, initial designs being adjusted by eye on site in close collaboration with trusted builders. This paper analyses the development of Portmerion as a gesamtkunstwerk; considering the experience of movement through the village as a dynamic composition of shifting vistas, focussing the visitor on a series of constructed views. Through this analysis, Portmerion is revealed as both a manifestation of the architecture of pleasure and an exercise in the pleasure of architecture

The impact on firms of ICT skill-supply strategies: an Anglo-German comparison

This paper compares the supply of specialist ICT skills in Britain and Germany from higher education and from apprenticeship and assesses the relative impact on companies in the two countries. In contrast to Britain, where numbers of ICT graduates have expanded rapidly, the supply of university graduates in Germany has not increased. Combined with the constraints of the German occupational model of work organization, it is concluded that this failure of supply may have contributed to slower growth of ICT employment in Germany. At the same time, German firms have turned to a newly developed model of apprenticeship to supply routine technical ICT skills. This strategy contrasts with British firms which recruit from a wide range of graduate specialisms and invest more heavily in graduate training. Probably in part as a consequence, apprenticeship in ICT occupations in Britain has failed to develop

Piko, Lifeline of the Community: Principles of Adaptive Reuse at Iwilei Dole Cannery

Dying malls are a growing concern in our urban landscape and decreasing property values in the surrounding neighborhood in extreme cases leading to total building abandonment. Often found in lower to mid-income communities, these dying sites are becoming increasingly common. It is unknown whether the community is a reflection of the landscape, or the landscape is a reflection of its people. Whatever the direction, little to no outreach opportunities exist for the community and its people. The original function of a building, whether through economy and/or industry change, is no longer applicable. The goal of this study is to show that adaptive reuse of these spaces coupled with the right social programs, can be the catalyst for change in human behavior. Community uplift is a core goal at the proposed site, The Shops at Dole Cannery. The uplift will be achieved through an intensive inward focus on the community of Iwilei and an extensive outward focus on the Department of Education’s Farrington district (Kalihi). Smart solutions that incorporate education, a self-sustainable hands on design, and income generating programs will address the challenges of those in the low/mid income socio-economic strata. Public-Private entities are mutually beneficial and work conjointly. Public spaces provide the venues that host private entities, and in return, the public entity gains access to a steady stream of financial resources. Adaptive reuse sites will bring together the concepts of community uplift, urban renewal, and environmental sustainability. To further support the idea of social ecology, a re-examination of local building codes is in proposed. The foundation of this study rests upon the understanding that a balanced network transportation system will increase mobility compatible with current urban living conditions. Innovative program/project design is critical. Promotion of a public transportation system with feeder stops will both increase and encourage high occupancy to once dead sites