CIC form E4BE (Education for the Built Environment) Group

CIC (Construction Industry Council) establishes E4BE (Education for the Built Environment), the Implementation Group for the CIC/CITB Construction & Built Environment Higher Education Forum.

The Higher Education Implementation Group, to be known as E4BE, held its first meeting on Friday, 13 September, under the Chairmanship of Professor Barry Clarke, CIC Executive Member for Lifelong Learning, CITB Board Member and President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. A number of stakeholder organisations are represented on the group covering education provision, professional bodies and higher education institutions.

The aim of E4BE is to take action on priorities related to higher education and the built environment and it will support and be accountable to a high level Strategy Group in delivering activities relating to the Forum's aims.

The CIC/CITB Construction & Built Environment Higher Education Forum's vision is a strategic approach to working in partnership with higher education (level 4 and above) to focus on the mutually beneficial needs of the Construction and Built Environment (C&BE) professional community and Higher Education providers in relation to recruitment, education needs and education delivery. It is intended to help shape capability and build capacity in the sector.

The Forum's aims include to enable:

• professional institutions to extend their engagement with higher education in collaboration with other stakeholders so that value is added to what higher education offers to industry

• higher education providers to meet the needs of industry by working with other stakeholders in a more integrated way to satisfy higher education needs given constraints in the sector

• employers to address the need to skill new entrants (including employed, mature entrants and job changers, as well as new young entrants), and re-skill/up-skill/'recalibrate' mature entrants and the existing workforce.

E4EB will be facilitated and led by CIC in partnership with CITB and it will carry out collaborative consultation and research; prepare reports; prepare joint responses to policy consultations; organise workshops and events; identify any work undertaken formerly by the BESA HESDG Group and any current work by individual members that will further the Forum's aims.

The Forum's Strategy Group will comprise and be open to chief Executives of the CIC Full Member bodies and nominated CITB representation.

Following the meeting, Professor Barry Clarke said of the group: “The work to be undertaken by E4BE is a critical step forward in meeting the economic challenges and changing working practices that the construction industry, the education sector and the professional bodies face in these challenging times when the demands on the built environment are increasing due to urbanisation, changes in technology including digital communications and society’s aspirations.”

For further information for the CIC/CITB Construction & Built Environment Higher Education Forum go to www.cic.org.uk/networks-and-committees/