£52 million boost for skills and training in UK science sectors
Science Minister David Willetts will on 8 July 2014 announce a £52 million investment in new and emerging science talent, creating more than 7,800 education and skills opportunities over a 2 year period.
Speaking at a Science Industrial Partnership (SIP) board meeting – a new consortium of around 100 leading science sector employers – the minister will formally announce the group’s success in bidding into the government’s Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot fund (EOP). The new partnership, led by GlaxoSmithKline, will design the vocational training and skills programmes that the life sciences, chemicals and industrial science sectors need to thrive and compete in the global economy.
The partnership will deliver:
- 1,360 apprenticeships: based on a new, simple employer-owned system delivering work-ready apprentices
- 240 traineeships: a new work experience programme for young people pursuing science- based careers
- 150 Industry Degrees: a radical new approach to graduate development, focused on employer skills needs and graduate employability
- 230 Modular Masters Modules: a new modular route to deliver high tech post-graduate skills in the workplace
- 5,900 workforce development opportunities: increasing technical and management capability of the workforce STEM careers: a cross-sectoral proposal to attract young people into STEM jobs
University and Science Minister David Willetts said: "The science based industries are critical to our future prosperity – and higher skills are the key driver of their competitiveness. Our investment will help the industry to take the lead investing in the skills they need."
The government will be contributing £32.6 million, with £20 million from employers, alongside £31 million in-kind contributions. This will fund a range of ultimately self-sustaining activities expected to improve skills in these sectors.
Cogent, the expert skills body for the science industries, which is facilitating the SIP, has spent the last 6 months identifying employer demand for the skills programmes.
The employers, who have come together to form the new Science Industry Partnership (SIP), are in the second round of winners to successfully bid into the £340 million Employer Ownership Pilot (EOP). This is a competitive fund that invited employers, over 2 rounds, to tell government how they would better use public investment, alongside their own, to invest in the skills of their current and future workforce in order to secure future growth for the UK economy.
