Scheme to address skills shortage will show being a technician is a 'career for life'

摘要

The University of Sheffield is leading a £400,000 scheme to tackle a 'black hole' in universities' technical expertise and train the workforce needed to ensure the country is at the forefront of international research and development.A study by Dr Paul Lewis as part of a Gatsby Foundation funded project showed that 1.5 million science, engineering and technology job opportunities will be created across the country by 2020, with nearly a third of these in the higher skilled technician roles needed by employers to compete on a global scale. But separate research by the Technician Council found that the UK must educate another 450,000 technicians across all sectors by 2020 to address a massive skills shortage.To tackle this problem, the University of Sheffield has successfully secured £400,000 from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to pioneer career pathways for technicians and bring new blood into the profession. On average, UK higher education institutions will lose between 25-35% of their highly-skilled professional technicians in the next three to five years as many reach retirement age.