Equipment handover set to boost Teesside process industry careers
31 Oct 2008
Students at the University of Teesside are set for a huge skills boost with the handover of around £250,000 worth of training equipment from the National Skills Academy Process Industries. The kit will be used to support and develop the University's engineering provision and help meet the current and future skills challenges throughout the process industries.
The mobile equipment, which now fills one of
the chemical engineering labs, will create a mini process pilot plant when
assembled and provide students with 'hands-on' experience of working in a
modern process industry environment without having to leave the campus in
central Middlesbrough.
The North East is one of four key regional
centres set up by the skills academy, identified as having a concentration of
process industry employers and it is working alongside regional employers and
training organisations to create a training and development framework driven by
employers themselves, and which will result in a highly trained and skilled
workforce.
The investment is the first capital
expenditure by the National Skills Academy Process Industries since its launch
earlier this year. Its primary aim is to revolutionise the education and
training framework throughout the process industries, by working in partnership
with employers, colleges, universities and private training providers to supply
employers with bespoke training and development to a nationally-agreed
standard.
Philip Jones, Chief Executive of the skills
academy, said: “We're delighted that our first capital investment was made on
Teesside, where we chose to have our national hub and where the process
industry provides so many excellent employment opportunities. Our job now is to
work with organisations such as the University
of Teesside who share our vision of
creating a world-class workforce for the UK process industry.
“We're already doing this among the 16- to
19-year-olds and we are now actively working with higher education to ensure
that the industry has the high-level skills it will need to survive and prosper
in the future.
“The age profile of people currently working
in the process industry means we're going to need 24,000 process employees and
technicians over the next five to 10 years, and 10-12,000 graduates. This is a
major challenge and one that I know Teesside is already facing up to.”
Professor Simon Hodgson, Dean of the Teesside University's
School of Science & Technology explained, “The mission of our School of
Science & Technology is to produce the best-prepared graduates for the
world of work in the UK
and over the last 12 months we've actively worked with relevant professional
bodies towards this end. We want our students to know that they will have the
best possible start when they leave this University and enter into the world of
professional employment.
“We're delighted that they have made their
first capital investment at the University
of Teesside and we look forward
to working with them and our other industrial partners to ensure that our
graduates are equipped with the education and skills they will need in
industry.
“Teesside is determined to be one of the
leading industry-facing universities in the country and over the last year
we've hired a number of new staff. We now intend to more than match the
investment by the skills academy with a major refurbishment of the Orion Building,
home to many of our students and staff specialising in areas such as chemical and
mechanical engineering.”
Professor Hodgson believes that there is a
great future for engineering on Teesside and says: “We're determined to be part
of it.”
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