Patterns of core and generic skill provision in higher education

The study reported here is seeking to gain enhanced understandings of the a cquisition and development of core and generic skills in higher education a nd employment against a backcloth of continued pressure for their effective delivery from employers, government departments, and those responsible for the management and funding of higher education. This pressure appears to h ave had little impact so far, in part because of tutors' scepticism of the message, the messenger and its vocabulary, and in part because the skills d emanded lack clarity, consistency and a recognisable theoretical base. Any empirical attempt to acquire enhanced understandings of practice thus requi res the conceptualisation and development of models of generic skills and o f course provision. These models are presented together with evidence of th eir validity, including exemplars of the patterns of course provision ident ified.