Telford training academy echoes concerns over shortage of engineers
The head of a new Telford training academy has echoed fears outlined in a major new national report that claims the UK is facing a severe shortage of engineering graduates.
Research earlier this week from the respected Royal Academy of Engineering revealed that the industry requires 100,000 new graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects each and every year just to maintain existing employment numbers, with current figures showing that there are only 90,000 STEM graduates a year. The report argues that the UK is already slipping down international innovation tables, and that even though there are 23,000 engineers graduating every year, this pool of talent is being eroded by more than a quarter of them choosing a career in a different sector.
“These figures put into stark context a problem that has been creeping up for years,” Declan McDonnell, Director of The TDS Academy, commented. “Unless drastic action is taken quickly, sectors such as construction, architecture, and engineering are going to be faced with a huge shortage of skilled workers. As the report states, the current pool of science, technology and engineering experts is already ‘stretched thin’. Engineering firms are crying out for staff, but simply can’t find the suitably skilled people they need, and if steps aren’t taken now, this situation will only get worse and worse.”
One of the main methods the government has identified to tackle this skills shortage is increased support for apprenticeships. The brainchild of TDS Midlands, a Computer Aided Design (CAD) specialist for the steel and metalwork sector, The TDS Academy is a new training programme that offers youngsters three-year apprenticeships where they can gain vital vocational qualifications at the same time as gaining practical work experience tackling real-life design engineering projects.
“The first wave of apprentices undertaking our training programme have just started this month, with firms from as far afield as Shropshire, Scotland, Essex, Lancashire, and Cambridgeshire all signed up and sending youngsters to learn with us. They all see the huge benefits the programme will have, firstly for the young apprentices themselves, who get a real opportunity to start their careers off on a positive footing by combining work with study, but also as employers too – once the training is completed, they’ll reap the rewards of a highly-skilled and experienced CAD designer for years to come, an asset that as the report reveals, is a particularly prized one to find.”
Run from The TDS Academy’s base at The Hub in Telford, the apprenticeship programme will see each trainee who successfully completes the scheme obtain an ECITB Level Three Diploma in Engineering Construction Design and Drafting, along with a BTEC Level Three Diploma in Operations and Maintenance Engineering – the equivalent of two A Levels.
