New UCB team set to reshaping employer engagement | News

May 2026

University College Birmingham is reshaping employer engagement for the region’s future

By Claire Huggins

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As recruitment gets underway for the new Business and Employer Engagement Team, Vickie Pargetter-Garner, our Director of Business and Employer Engagement, shares her insight on why this is a pivotal moment for the University, and her ambitions for the impact the team will have on student outcomes and businesses across the Midlands.

“Across the West Midlands, employers are navigating rapid change; from evolving skills demands to new technologies, shifting labour markets and rising expectations around work ready talent.
Universities have a critical role to play in helping businesses respond, but only if they can connect industry insight, student capability and academic expertise in a way that is easy to access and genuinely adds value.

That’s the ambition at the core of our new Business and Employer Engagement Team: it’s an investment designed to bring together talent, skills, enterprise and industry collaboration in a more strategic, outward facing way.

Vickie Pargetter-Garner

Why employer engagement needs to evolve

Businesses across the region tell us they need:

• clearer routes into university expertise
• faster access to student talent and placements
• support with upskilling and professional development
• collaboration on innovation, live projects and consultancy
• insight into future workforce needs.

The new team is designed to meet those needs head on - creating a single, cohesive gateway for employers and ensuring that engagement is proactive, not reactive.

A structure built around employer needs

Rather than a traditional centralised model, UCB’s new approach embeds business development directly into academic schools while strengthening the strategic capability at the centre.

The new roles (including a Head of Business Development, two school‑facing Business Development Managers, a Business Development Executive, a Marketing and Events Manager, a Systems, Data and Insights Manager and an Enterprise Consultant) are designed to:

connect subject expertise with industry demand
create more opportunities for students to gain real‑world experience
streamline employer touchpoints
improve data, insight and CRM capability
support enterprise and innovation
strengthen communication with partners.

This is about building a system that works for employers as much as it works for students.

"Our ambition is simple: we want employer engagement to sit at the heart of our University experience. That means building partnerships that benefit students, support businesses, inform our curriculum and contribute to the economic and social prosperity of the region."

Vickie Pargetter-Garner Director of Business and Employer Engagement

What this means for students

For students, it means:

• industry insights hard-wired into curriculum at all levels
• more employer led projects
• more work experience and placement opportunities
• stronger links between learning and industry practice
• better preparation for the workplace
• more chances to build confidence, networks and employability.

It’s a direct investment in helping students put knowledge to work.

What this means for employers

For businesses, this investment means:

• one seamless route into the University - dedicated account managers ready to respond to employer needs
• faster access to talent (placements, projects and apprenticeships)
• more opportunities to shape curriculum and influence future skills
• support for innovation, consultancy and knowledge transfer partnerships
• a tailored offering to upskill existing staff via CPD, executive education, short courses and micro credentials
• a team that understands sector needs and can translate them into action

It’s a model built on people and partnerships, not transactions and trade.

A long term commitment to the region

If we want to be known as a University that genuinely ‘puts knowledge to work’, we need to build on our people, systems, insight and market-facing activity to make that happen.

Harnessing our talented students, industry-standard facilities, specialist expertise and a real understanding of the skills employers need, will build the foundations for sustained, long-term external engagement.

By aligning people, systems and insight, the University is positioning itself as a long term partner in regional growth - one that understands the skills employers need and the opportunities students deserve."

Explore our vacancies in the Business and Employer Engagement Team

"Harnessing our talented students, industry-standard facilities, specialist expertise and a real understanding of the skills employers need, will build the foundations for sustained, long-term external engagement."

Vickie Pargetter-Garner Director of Business and Employer Engagement