KEF, Levelling Up and SMEs: creating pathways to employment within a crowded market with few buyers

This chapter outlines the ways in which sector-wide Higher Education and UK Government agendas provide clear parameters for action in advancing employability. The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) has been introduced to complement evaluations in Research (REF) and Teaching (TEF). Indeed, the OfS (Office for Students) and UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) regard each of these evaluations as ‘mutually reinforcing’. KEF has emerged at a time of pandemic, cost-of-living crisis and enhanced understanding of the socio-economic challenges faced within Britain through agendas such as Levelling Up. Students at new universities are disproportionately affected by this period of crisis, since the likes of Northumbria take in much larger numbers of students from lower SES backgrounds. Given the competitiveness of the labour market, particularly outside of London and the South East, there is need to view KEF in the context of employability. This is particularly true of new universities, in which non-vocational subject areas, such as Politics, need to be able to present clear pathways through to employment for prospective students. KEF and Levelling Up grant clear pathways to employability, enabling academics both to create and justify ties to regional SMEs, in particular.