IER News & blogs

In conversation with Chris Warhurst, the author of a new book, Skills Policy in Britain and the Future Of Work, Tom Bewick, will explain his motivation for writing this study; what he has learnt from a 30-year career as both a policy maker and practitioner in post compulsory education and training; and what specific skills policy does he believe countries should adopt in pursuing new approaches to human capital.

Please contact Lynne Marston via email to register for the event before 2 December: L.Marston@warwick.ac.uk

A pioneering study published in Studies in Higher Education provides the first comprehensive examination of multidimensional job quality premiums for university graduates across European labour markets, challenging long-held assumptions about the returns to higher education.

The findings carry important implications for how we evaluate higher education outcomes and may help explain why objective graduate advantages don't always translate into higher subjective wellbeing—the so-called "paradox of the dissatisfied graduate."

IER was invited to contribute to the ‘TVET in the Shifting of Socio-Economic Paradigm’ conference in Islamabad on the 2nd-3rd October. Peter Dickinson represented IER on the panel of the 'Greening and Transforming TVET for more Resilient and Sustainable Economy' session. He spoke about IER's work analysing the impact of the green and digital transitions on jobs and skills.

Join us for a Question Time-style in-person event on 5 November to explore the future of work. Our experts from the Faculty of Social Sciences, including the IER, will answer your questions on all things work: What will be the impact of AI and digitalisation on the future of work? Will that future be one of good and healthy jobs for everyone? And will the future of work deliver greater productivity? The event is part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science 2025.

Please register here for the-in person event at the University of Warwick.

In early September, the UK and Saudi Government held a joint Great Futures Leadership Summit in London. It was the largest gathering of UK and Saudi Ministers and included the signing of a number of commercial deals between the UK and Saudi Arabia.

One of these deals was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that involves IER providing research, evaluation, training and advice to the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development to support the Saudi Government’s Vision 2030.