An Oxford-based business education company believes medium sized enterprises (ME’s) could be the universities of the future. With the need for the UK and Europe to create 10 million new and sustainable jobs by 2020, MEs could be at the vanguard of the economic recovery process.

As university fees increase, youth unemployment remains high and there remains a gap between the skills employers need and those on offer, making a different approach a priority.

But MEs will need help and support to create new viable ventures, in a world where ways of doing business and managing organisations are fast becoming outdated.

Roger Mumby-Croft, the new Professor of International Management Practice at Anglia Ruskin University and David Cartwright, a business turnaround specialist, set up Oxford Business Development together, after careers spent working with MEs in the fields of education and managing change.

Both believe how business education is delivered is as important as the content of the delivery — and that this holds true not only for young people contemplating the world of work, but also those returning to employment or seeking a career change.

Mr Mumby-Croft said: “We are already seeing large firms of accountants and management consultants such as KPMG and Grant Thornton recruiting school leavers to their three-year training programmes, as well as an increase in apprenticeship schemes.

“MEs now need to think about how they can provide training opportunities in-house, or in partnership with others. This is not only to benefit their business, but also to fulfil their corporate social responsibility obligations within the communities in which they operate.”

Mr Mumby-Croft and Mr Cartwright first worked together two years ago when they ran a Young Entrepreneurs programme in Sweden for 18-25-year-olds from across Europe.

This resulted in the Swedish government commissioning them to run similar business skills programmes for young unemployed to get them into the world of work.

The success of this programme has resulted in Oxford Business Development advising the Swedish government on how secondary education can better equip 16 to 19 year-olds to enter the workplace.

This has involved devising not only an entrepreneurial-style curriculum for students, but also a training programme for teachers, based on the ethos of co-production rather than control and command.

The long-term plan for the Swedish initiative is for graduates of the Entrepreneurs Gymnasium (Academy) to have gained business skills, through working with local employers and in the community.

Oxford Business Development hopes to use the Swedish Gymnasium model as a blueprint for how such an academy might be established in the UK.

Mr Mumby-Croft and Mr Cartwright believe that with the pressure to do more with less, employers, particularly MEs, will need to have the right people in the right place at the right time.

However, there is a shortage of ‘exact talent,’ according to Mr Mumby-Croft.

He said: “Exact talent involves people with specific skills, behaviours and ways of operating.

“Historically many university courses have failed to make employability skills core to the curriculum, creating a mismatch between talent available and that needed by employers.

“Since MEs will be central to the economic recovery in the UK, they need to become more agile in how they attract, train and develop the talent of their employees.”

Mr Mumby-Croft and Mr Cartwright recognise MEs must also consider how to engage with an older workforce.

This group will need to update and develop their skills and knowledge to remain productive.

Oxford Business Development recently partnered the Host Programme at Warwick Business School. The programme supported those mid-career middle managers who had lost their jobs, to re-enter the world of work.

This involved training in core business skills coupled with one on one coaching and mentoring sessions and work placements.

Mr Cartwright said: “Seeing individuals leave the programme with renewed energy and the belief they can do things differently is why we set up Oxford Business Development.

“It is wonderful working with the energy of youth, but there is something equally satisfying and fulfilling in being able to help those in mid-career find new purpose and direction.”

Contact: Oxford Business Development, 01865 573673 Web: www.oxfordbusinessdevelopment.com