Higher Level Skills
To support both the existing and future workforce, the NWDA
supports a number of training and employment initiatives, including
training for members of the current workforce and future workforce
who require higher level skills.
Enterprise Champions
The NWDA has invested £930,000 in the Enterprise Champion
programme to boost the region’s graduate entrepreneurial skills.
The funding pays for an Enterprise Champion at five Northwest
universities: the
University of Liverpool, University of
Salford,
University of Cumbria, Manchester
Metropolitan University and Liverpool John Moores
University.
Enterprise Champions offer encouragement, guidance and practical
support to students and graduates who show entrepreneurial ideas
and commitment, providing them with the opportunity to explore the
possibility of turning these ideas into real profit-making
enterprises.
The Enterprise Champions programme, which is delivered by the
National Council for
Graduate Entrepreneurship, lobbies policymakers in
Northwest universities to introduce environments which support
entrepreneurs as well as supporting graduate start-up firms.
Higher Level Skills Partnership
The Higher Level Skills Partnership is a training service
delivered by the Northwest
Universities Association - the representative body of
the 14 Northwest Higher Education Institutions. It is funded by
HEFCE and
the NWDA.
The aim of the training service is to offer employer need-based
training at NVQ Level 4 and equivalent. The two areas of "employer
demand" being met by this service are key sector business training
and leadership and management training.
The NWDA has increased its funding of the Partnership to help
businesses through the current economic downturn. The extra funding
means that the programme will now run until the end of March 2011 -
extending the Partnership scheme by 18 months - and will be
extended to offer key sector training to an additional three
sectors.