UfI plans to create millions of new learners
UfI plans to create millions of new learners
Keywords: Learning, Partnering, Training, United Kingdom
The University for Industry, at the heart of the Government's vision for lifelong learning, plans to revolutionize the way people learn through a new learning network across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It aims to provide information and advice to 2.5 million people a year and to create demand for up to one million courses and learning packages a year - to be met by the UfI network and existing learning providers.
UfI is independent of the Government and has been set up as a company, UfI Ltd, which is seeking charitable status.
It is not a provider or educational institution in the traditional sense. It does not have its own students or lecturers. Instead, it delivers its products and services through partners in areas such as the education and training sectors, employers, trade unions, and local, regional and national-government bodies.
The company seeks to help people to learn everything from basic literacy and numeracy to advanced business management. It seeks to overcome the barriers that put people and businesses - particularly small businesses - off learning. These may be barriers of time, cost, uncertainty, inadequate information, complexity,lack of confidence and inconvenience.
UfI helps people to assess their needs and find the learning opportunities that suit them best. Where appropriate, UfI directs people and employers to existing courses and learning materials. But where there are gaps, UfI creates new learning materials.
It does not award qualifications itself. Where it identifies important new areas of learning which currently carry no qualifications, it may encourage the appropriate awarding bodies to create new ones.
UfI will be in full national operation by autumn 2000. In the meantime, many of its services are being gradually introduced:
UfI took over responsibility for the Government's Learning Direct helpline in April 1999.
Following a call for suppliers of learning materials during the spring, some 600 organizations applied to become UfI qualified suppliers. They range from colleges and small businesses to multinational companies.
UfI invited proposals by the end of July from public and private-sector partnerships to form 100 consortia which will operate UfI learning centres,supplying 600,000 UfI learning opportunities a year. The first learning centres became operational in October.
Next spring, a publicity campaign will begin and the UfI Web site will become operational.
The national launch will take place in autumn 2000, when hundreds of learning centres will open.
Up to 1,000 centres are expected to be open by March 2001.
Around 2.5 million people a year will be using UfI information sources by 2002.
By 2004, the UfI expects to stimulate demand for a million courses and learning packages a year.
UfI uses information and communication technology for people to learn at home or at work. In addition, UfI learning centres give people and businesses the use of facilities that might not be available in the home or in smaller companies.
Many of the learning centres are based on existing facilities in workplaces,colleges, universities, schools and libraries. Others will be created at housing estates, shopping centres and leisure centres.
The largest learning centres contain extensive libraries and offer in-house learning support and use of technologies such as videoconferencing. The smaller learning centres have more limited facilities. But all contain computer terminals to let people download resources and communicate with tutors and other learners.
UfI's introductory brochure states: "While there is strength in the name University for Industry, our research shows that it has the potential to alienate many of those we wish to reach. We are therefore now developing a new consumer brand and identity that will be our public face and the basis of our marketing activity".
