Both the Trust and the College recognise the need for a natural confluence of ideas and a working relationship between academic centres of learning and commerce and industry. They believe enormous benefits could accrue if these powerful influences could be made to work together more effectively. This has been the case as a result of the collaboration between Government and the private sector in the operation of the GATT, a process which was originally conceived by Professor James Meade, Nobel laureate in Economics, and one of the most distinguished 20th century British economists, who was associated with Christ’s for many years, initially as a Professorial Fellow and subsequently as an Honorary Fellow.

At all times both parties seek to encourage and promote an active dialogue between academics working in the field of Economics and related subjects, and organisations involved in trade and commerce, in order to promote closer working links and to identify trends and events which are having, or are expected to have, a significant effect on business and commerce and which require study, discussion and the promulgation of ideas aimed at providing a practical benefit to the wider business and commercial community.

Regular and informal meetings are planned to discuss subjects of potential interest. These discussions could also involve other like-minded third parties introduced by either party, and drawn from Government, the public sector or the private sector, and could also be the forum for generating new ideas for research.

Both parties will promote and encourage wider awareness of the commercial value to Government and commerce of good practical economics. They seek to be identified with economic research of high quality, and the publication of the results of such research for the public good.

An early example of co-operation with the College was the interactive discussion on the theme The Credit Crunch: Questioning the Fundamental Myths led by Dr William Peterson, Lecturer in Economics at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow in Economics at Christ’s College on 16 March 2009 at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A paper prepared by Dr Peterson and based on the discussion can be downloaded here.

The project explored how the subject-based (classroom) and work-based aspects of a programme could be related most effectively, and produced materials with practical value for policy makers, programme designers, trainers/lecturers and learners. It looked in depth at six examples of effective programme design and delivery in Engineering, Management, Financial Services, Media, Banking, and Leadership across a range of employment sectors. Innovative thinking brought about the development of fresh approaches to the design and delivery of programmes and the management of learning involving the concept of recontextualisation. This has the potential to solve many longstanding problems and overcome many of the artificial distinctions between academic theory and vocational practice that have bedevilled work in this field for many years. The work is now being taken forward by others in a number of different ways.

Project details and publications can be found on the website www.wlecentre.ac.uk

Since the 1970s, the UK has experienced the growth of its ‘knowledge economy’, in which the ability to use, share and analyse knowledge has become a key driver of economic growth and wealth creation in all sectors of the economy.

There are three main dimensions to this knowledge economy story; first, rapid growth in knowledge intensive industries; second, rapid growth in highly skilled ‘knowledge jobs’ in all sectors in the UK and third, growth in services and the ‘experience economy’ – sectors such as retail, leisure and tourism – on which affluent workers wish to spend their money.

In the UK high technology manufacturing and knowledge based services are responsible for an increasing share of GDP

The UK’s knowledge economy is not evenly dispersed across the country but concentrated in different areas, particularly certain cities. To understand why some cities have become successful ‘knowledge cities’ and ‘knowledge city regions’, The Work Foundation developed the concept of the Ideopolis – a sustainable knowledge intensive city that drives growth in the wider city region. Research identified drivers of successful ‘Ideopolises’ and these provide a framework for all cities which seek to become more knowledge intensive and enable cities to assess their strengths and weaknesses against the key factors they need to consider.

A series of working papers were produced during the project (see www.theworkfoundation.com/research/ideopolis/ideopreports.aspx), as well as a final report, "How can cities thrive in the changing economy?" was launched at the Ideopolis Annual Conference in July 2008. To access either the full report or the executive summary please click on the following link: www.theworkfoundation.com/research/publications/publicationdetail.aspx?oItemId=188&parentPageID=102&PubType=

UKIERI looks to substantially improve educational links between India and the UK, involving schools through to higher education, so that in the long term they become each other’s partner of choice in education. UKIERI was launched by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2006 in India with a £20 million budget. “Exchange to Change” is one of eight projects in the Professional and Technical Skills strand of UKIERI which looks to develop partnerships between Indian and British colleges of further education and Indian vocational colleges. The colleges are encouraged to work together on joint educational projects with an objective to meet industry skills gaps in three strategically important areas of financial services, creative industries and petrochemicals.