Skills without borders: reflections from a Parliamentary skills event

By Nina Chorzelewski  |  UK Skills Partnership

Last week I had the pleasure of representing the UK Skills Partnership at a City & Guilds Parliamentary event held at Westminster. It brought together a rich and diverse cross-section of the UK skills ecosystem, from colleges and awarding bodies to training providers, sector bodies and policy advocates, all united by a shared commitment to skills education and its power to transform lives.

The timing felt significant with the Education World Forum taking place the same week, and skills sitting firmly at the top of the political agenda. While there is breadth in the UK’s skills landscape, the event made me reflect on how complex and sometimes fragmented that landscape can appear, even to those operating within it.

That complexity, however, is also an opportunity. The diversity of provision – awarding organisations, colleges, sector bodies, training providers, chartered institutes – means that collectively we offer something genuinely rounded and have a whole suite of expertise that few other countries can replicate.

The drop in event was hosted by Andrew Pakes, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Peterborough, who is active and vocal on apprenticeships and skills policy. His contribution was a timely reminder of the weight that skills now carry in the current political conversation. His message echoed the government’s position clearly: skills and skills education are not at the edges of economic growth, but are central to it. They must be prioritised, properly understood across the system and, most importantly, respected.

Many of my discussions focussed in on what we mean by skills and how do we recognise them? We all understand what a degree is – the qualification has very clear currency in our minds. But ask a room of people what a Level 4 technical qualification represents, or what a skills bootcamp delivers, and the answers become much less certain. Closing that awareness gap both domestically and internationally is work that still needs to be done.

The global perspective

It became clear very quickly that even in the skills space, many people don’t understand what UK vocational and technical education can offer internationally, which is both a challenge and an opportunity.

Key conversations were around the flexibility and responsiveness of the UK’s vocational education sector. Colleges and training providers in our system are genuinely industry-driven. They can create highly specific, targeted programmes quickly, whether that is upskilling workers in EV charging infrastructure, supporting digital transformation in a local economy, or delivering technical skills to an international partner alongside essential English language support. That adaptability is in the DNA of our vocational sector, and it is precisely what international partners are looking for.

Breaking down barriers

Another recurring theme of the afternoon’s discussions was the importance of reaching people who are furthest from the labour market like young people not in employment, education or training (NEET), workers facing redundancy as roles become automated, and communities where the skills base needs to shift rapidly to meet new economic realities.

This is where colleges and vocational providers in the UK have a particular strength; they are embedded in local communities and understand what is needed on the ground. They can embed employability skills like communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork and digital literacy into vocational programmes in ways that build real resilience, not just technical competence. These are the transferable, human-centred skills that make people genuinely employable across a career, not just in a single role.

The same principle applies internationally. The partners that UK Skills Partnership works with are not looking for off-the-shelf products. They are looking for genuine collaboration; providers who will come alongside them, understand their context, and build something that works for their workforce, their economy and their local communities. This is exactly what the UK vocational and technical education sector does well.

What comes next?

I came away with a clear sense of where we should be focusing energy. Awareness raising remains critical – not just of what we offer as UK Skills Partnership, but of where we sit within the broader skills ecosystem and why that matters for international engagement. There are organisations working in this space, including some smaller providers doing genuinely innovative work in areas like community regeneration and sector transition, who would have a great deal to offer international partners and who we have not yet fully brought into the conversation.

There is therefore a strategic opportunity to map that landscape more deliberately and to identify the organisations, the expertise and the practice that could strengthen what we bring to the global skills agenda, and to build connections that do not yet exist. We need to ensure we are using the full potential of the UK’s skills offer, from international mobility opportunities to bespoke training programmes development to skills systems and qualifications export and truly reflect the breadth of skills provision and engagement in the UK.  

Internationally, we know there is clear demand for high-quality, flexible, industry-relevant skills provision. Events like this parliamentary forum matter because they bring people together, generate ideas, and create the kind of cross-sector momentum that no single organisation can generate alone.

 

Nina Chorzelewski attended the City & Guilds Parliamentary event on behalf of UK Skills Partnership. Nina is based at the Association of Colleges. For more information about UK Skills Partnership and its international programmes, please get in touch.