About the Wakefield Futures Commission

With more than 300,000 permanent residents, the Wakefield district is home to a diverse, ever-growing population. It enjoys a central geographical location and fantastic transport connections.

While it boasts a proud history and lots of great assets, it faces economic issues. This is partly due to a lack of a higher-level skills opportunities being in place.

Wakefield is one of England’s largest cities without a university. It faces significant challenges in developing and retaining higher-level skills among its residents.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, only 28.8% of Wakefield’s population aged 16 to 64 holds qualifications at Level 4 or above. This figure is substantially below the national average of 46.7%, and the Yorkshire and Humber regional average of 41.2%.

Identifying Opportunities

The Wakefield Futures Commission has been created to bring together industry experts from education and economic policy. They will carry out research and determine how the district can create and attract high-level skilled workers. Both these are essential for sustained economic growth.

To do this it needs to have an idea what the jobs of the future will look like and what skills they will demand. The priority then needs to be creating pathways for people, so they can learn these skills.

This study will look at what Wakefield Council and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority can do. It will also consider other skills providers, colleges, and our national government. This will put us in a better placed to meet the challenges of the future.

Finding Solutions

Around the world there is enormous interest in effective tertiary systems. But what is a tertiary system?

It’s a system where all the different education and training providers for people aged 18+yrs work together effectively.  This includes:

  • colleges
  • private training providers
  • universities
  • employers

We aim to look at how a tertiary system could be created for Wakefield and what it might look like.

This is a serious effort to make a real difference to the economy and draw on local experience to drive national policy change. The commission brings together highly thoughtful people to find solutions.

We expect the findings of this study will be of interest to The Government. This is because economic growth is reliant on investing in education and skills. The study will not just cover Wakefield, it will apply on a national level.

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