Higher education offers the chance to gain powerful knowledge and…in principle, to an extent, in some cases…the knowhow to apply that knowledge in industry, the professions and graduate employment generally. “Skills” has become a universal term to capture a sense of the value gained from education, but it can mean anything from specific technical competences to generic capabilities. The gauntlet has been thrown down to higher education providers to ensure their graduates have the skills their region needs and to coordinate with other education providers in their areas to deliver on regional skills agendas – without much indication of how that might happen. But while half the country doesn’t benefit from higher education, adult education provision has been hollowed out over the last two decades, and there are nearly a million young people not in education, employment or training, should HE even be trying to articulate a role for itself in “skills”? Our panel will try to cut through the noise to define what the role of HE is or could be in ensuring the right mix of skills for the nation.