James Kewin is Managing Director of the independent research and consultancy firm CFE. CFE provide expert services to a range of organisations in the public and private sectors and reinvest their profits to fund their innovative Policy Insight research series.

James is a regular commentator on, and contributor to, education, employment and skills policy. In recent years, he has provided his policy development, research and project management expertise to a wide range of government departments and agencies. He has also worked extensively with individual universities and colleges to develop their employer engagement strategies and with Lifelong Learning Networks to improve the progression of vocational learners into higher education and employment.

James has a particular interest in graduate employment and employability. His early career was spent in the commercial recruitment industry, followed by a period managing a graduate recruitment programme for SMEs in the East Midlands. James and his team conduct the biannual recruitment survey on behalf of the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) and in January 2010, he published Generation Crunch, a report that examined the demand for recent graduates from SMEs. James is a member of the AGCAS Skills and Employability Awards Task Group and sits on the Strategy Board of the Training Gateway.

James has also authored influential reports on employer investment in higher level skills and workforce development; these include Known Unknowns (2008), Beyond Known Unknowns (2008) and Using Demand to Shape Supply (2009). He recently directed a review of the UK employment and skills system on behalf of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and authored (for CfBT) Lessons From History (2009), an assessment of historic youth unemployment and training programmes. James is currently supporting the development of the Council for Industry and Higher Education’s strategic Task Forces and is developing case studies of employers that have supported an apprentice to progress to higher education.