Employers are to be provided with assistance in recruiting prospective staff with the highest value skills, in an effort to ensure companies are taking on the most suitable candidates from the outset.
The government has revealed that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is set to alter the way that the outcomes of education and skills for adult learners are measured, in a bid to enable employers and training providers alike to focus more closely on giving students the skills they need in order to land new jobs and progress.
Instead of simply delivering qualifications, the new measures will be backed by the latest experimental data based on three key areas - what learners take as their next step, the progress that they made during their course, and how much their eventual earnings are.
According to the BIS, this range of measures will help to ensure that more accurate, relevant information is presented to both students and employers.
It follows a report published in April by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) , showing that greater collaboration between employers and further education providers on skills provision for young people was mutually beneficial for both groups.
Many organisations have found success by reaching out to young people and hosting events designed to highlight their skillsets and boost their knowledge base, and the government says similar approaches will help to bolster the upskilling of the nation's prospective workforce.
According to Michael Davis, UKCES chief executive, the proposed revisions are "welcome and needed", and show signs that the country is addressing some of the deep rooted issues holding back skills growth in the UK.
He elaborated: "Although many qualifications are of a very high quality, these proposals would ensure that we measure the effectiveness of skills provision in terms of the value the system offers to employers and students - enabling employers to get the recruits they want, and students to be given the skills that they need.
"In doing this we can ensure the system puts a focus on that which matters most - giving young people the vital skills and experience to get into work, progress, and become the economic driving force of tomorrow."
UKCES is currently carrying out further research with Universities UK, set to be published next month, which will look at the advantages of fostering closer links between universities and employers, in a bid to change established perceptions of work-based learning and make new approaches to training and upskilling commonplace.
