The Manufacturing Skills Academy is launched

Manufacturing News, Source : TheManufacturer.com
Published : 31 Oct 2006 15:59

Education and skills secretary Alan Johnson has launched the long awaited Manufacturing Skills Academy, to help drive up the standard of industry training, improve productivity and tackle skills shortages.

Government’s latest initiative to improve the skills and raise productivity across British industry bore its first fruit this morning. The new Manufacturing Skills Academy was launched by Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson, along with academies for the financial and construction sectors. An academy for the food and drink sector is also close to being approved.

The National Skills Academy network is designed to provide vocational education and training for school leavers and adults, tailor made to meet the specific needs of industry sectors.

The Manufacturing Academy will focus on consolidating the currently fragmented market of manufacturing skills training and on providing industry specific development programmes for trainers and assessors, accrediting them against new national standards.

“The manufacturing academy is [to be] rolled out region by region, led by a major employer in each region, supporting the needs of automotive, of aerospace and eventually the bio-sciences,” said Skills Minister Phil Hope. Manufacturing employers who are leading the development of the Manufacturing Skills Academy include Nissan, Toyota, Corus, Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar, Ford, GKN, Airbus, BAE Systems and VT Group.

By 2012, said Hope, “the Manufacturing Skills Academy will be supporting the learning and skills needs of 40,000 a year.”

At its launch in the north east, and also in the Midlands, the training focus will be on NVQ levels two and three in business improvement techniques. Looking forward, the Academy’s aim is to be operating throughout England within three years and to broaden its reach to include schools and higher education.

The measure of success for this latest and long-promised initiative “to train employees and managers in large and small employers, encouraging them to work closer together in the supply chain to ensure that the skills of the entire manufacturing workforce are being lifted,” will come in the next four years. By then, the Academy will be expected to be self-funding, “as more employers come on board.”

The Government is currently investing £90 million in the programme, which will be delivered through the Learning and Skills Councils.

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