Training: Back on track

When the government first set its target of getting 50% of young people into university, it failed to focus on areas where these extra graduates would be most needed - namely to fill the skills shortage faced, for example, by the engineering industry. Good news then that in the recent Budget the government announced a £270m Higher Education Modernisation Fund that will enable universities to fund an extra 20,000 undergraduates on courses starting in September 2010, with priority given to subjects such as science, technology, engineering and maths.

However, it is not just graduates who are needed. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills has just published its first UK Skills Audit which highlights the need for people who are trained to use science practically in factories. It's ironic that apprenticeship scemes, which date back in the UK to the guilds of the Middle Ages, are once again being given prominence. Such schemes peaked in the 1960s before plunging to a low at the start of the 1990s. Little wonder that we face a skills shortage today.

In a speech at a New Industry, New Jobs conference, Lord Mandelson spoke of a renaissance of apprenticeships, pointing out that we now have in England a quarter of a million apprentices - five times more than in 1997. The government plans to double the number of advanced and higher level apprenticeships for 19 to 30 year olds over the next two years, adding a further 35,000 places by 2012.

It's not just in the more traditional areas of manufacturing where skilled personnel are urgently needed. The new global low carbon economy is estimated to be worth £3 trillion, with the UK ranked sixth largest. To retain, and hopefully improve on this position, we must have an appropriately skilled workforce. Here too, there is recognition by the government of the need to train, with the announcement by Lord Mandelson of up to £16m for the development of new sector skills academies, just one of several recent initiatives.

The framework is now being put in place to ensure that the necessary skills are available to enable the UK to move forward. However, it is essential that whatever party is in power after the general election, the focus remains on developing training and supporting apprenticeship schemes relevant to UK manufacturing in the 21st century and beyond.

Val Kealey

Editor