The strategic challenges of academic collaboration between UK and China in relationship to employability and creative curriculum

The rise of the creative industries and their importance to economic growth provides the context for this paper that attempts to explore China/UK curriculum approaches to
employability and entrepreneurial practices for fashion design. The paper is based on the British Council Prime Ministers Initiative 2 Collaborative Partnerships Proposal for Employability and Entrepreneurship between two HE institutions participating in this project.

The University of Arts London; London College of Fashion (LCF) and Beijing Institute of Fashion & Technology (BIFT) are well-established institutions providing work-based learning for the fashion industries. Both HE institutions have been working together on various projects for the last 4 years, and from these informal relationship a move towards a deeper collaborative partnership will emerge. The UN states that the creative industries already account for more than 7% of global GDP, with the UK employing around 2 million people and contributes to £11.4 billion to the UK balance of trade. As China begins to develop its creative industries and new knowledge economy, the emphasis is shifting towards the individual and consumerism. These trends are influencing the need to build creative capacity through education and higher level skills to impact on the strategic and operational levels of industry.