Midas debates graduate retention at stakeholder event

Midas, the inward investment agency for Manchester, is to host a stakeholder event to help shape the strategy for retaining graduates in the city.

The event on 10 June will be co-hosted by the Commission for the New Economy. A morning workshop will present the findings of two research reports examining graduate talent retention and skills development in Manchester and the 22 northern universities.

The Graduate Retention and Language Skills report, commissioned by Midas, brings together research from a number of universities, inward investors and other sources to focus on the retention of the 400,000 students from the 22 HE Institutions within one hour's travel of the city.

The report highlights the graduate offer, in particular around languages and the number of international students, that the region has and its competitive position within the UK.

Key findings were:

• 70% of graduates from Northwest HEIs who entered employment remained in the North West
• Manchester University has the highest number of overseas students in the UK
• 18% of the UK's graduates study within one hour's drive of Greater Manchester
• The North West produces 20% of all UK language graduates
• The North West has the second largest number of students coming to study, after London.

Colin Sinclair, chief executive of Midas, said: "Manchester is in an excellent position to use the huge graduate talent pool as a unique selling point for inward investors – as we are already doing. This report shows that Manchester can do yet more to attract and retain the brightest and the best people with potentially huge economic gains across the whole of the city region."

The second report to be discussed will be Understanding Labour Market, Skills and Talent from the Manchester Independent Economic Review. The study found that, for most sectors, Manchester has a greater proportion of its workforce employed in knowledge businesses than in other regional UK cities.

The key players due to attend the event will include Prof Rod Coombs, vice president of innovation and economic development at the University of Manchester and Midas board member; Baron Frankal, director of strategy and research at the Commission for the New Economy; Tim Ashcroft, chief executive of Innovas Group; Rachel Green, head of business development at Midas; Dr Keith Lawrence, associate director of enterprise at the University of Salford; Chris Fletcher, deputy chief executive of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce; and Lis Smith, head of skills at the NWDA.

• The event will take place on Wednesday 10 June 2009 from 9am-12:15pm at Chancellors Hotel & Conference Centre, Chancellors Way, Moseley Road, Manchester, M14 6NN. To register contact Adele Cavanagh at Midas on 0161 877 3000.