Case Studies
2005–2006 marked the last year of City & Guilds’ five-year Corporate Plan, which comprised 15 separate workstreams, and an almost £50 million investment programme, designed to transform City & Guilds into a modern 21st century e-organisation. Workstreams ranged from the creation of an enterprise-scale SAP system to replace all our old IT systems, and the implementation of our global online assessment system, through to new customer service and staff recognition programmes.
So, the last five years have represented a period of unprecedented growth in City & Guilds’ history. 1.8 million learners registered with City & Guilds in 2005–2006, up from 950,000 five years ago, and revenue topped £92 million against a 2001 figure of £50 million.
The Institute has benefited greatly from adding ILM, NPTC and HAB to the Group, with all three organisations having record years in 2005–2006, in terms of student numbers, revenue and new partnerships.
Our online assessment system administered over 650,000 on-demand tests last year, and more than 85% of all our transactions with centres and learners are now conducted online. In 2007, City & Guilds will truly be an e-business!
We’ve also seen significant growth in our direct relationships with employers, with substantial partnerships with companies like Tesco, Orange, Royal Mail, London Underground and Lloyds TSB all providing significant reputational and revenue gains. City & Guilds now even accredits ‘The Knowledge’ test for London cabbies.
The environment in which City & Guilds operates is also changing significantly. All over the world, countries are beginning to realise that skills are one of, or even the, most important lever they have to maintain the competitiveness of their economies whilst maximising social cohesion. Many of the 80+ countries in which we operate are therefore undertaking fundamental reviews of their vocational education and training systems, designed to ensure the quality, responsiveness and fitness for purpose of the most important economic development tool they have available to them.
This is equally true in the UK itself. 2005–2006 saw the publication of the first and the final reports of the review of UK skills to the year 2020, conducted at the request of the Chancellor by Lord Leitch (previously Chief Executive Officer of Zurich Assurance). City & Guilds published its influential Skills in a Global Economy report in February 2006 in order to influence the direction of, and proposals in, Lord Leitch’s final report, and we were pleased with the overall direction of Leitch’s final recommendations.
We continued to grow our profile during the year, with over 1800 articles in the UK and global media, including many on our annual reports like the Vocational Rich List, the occupational Happiness Index, and Dormant Skills.
At the heart of everything City & Guilds does sit the 8000+ accredited centres – colleges, training providers, employers, universities and schools – who offer City & Guilds programmes and qualifications to their learners and/or employees. 2005–2006 was another year of excellent success for centres, employers and learners alike, and it’s right that I finish my introduction to our 2005–2006 Annual Review by thanking all of you for your continuing support, and offering you my commitment that we will seek to make the next five-year strategic plan even more successful than the last.
Chris Humphries CBE
Director-General
