The Government is set to plough an extra £18 million into the West Midlands-based Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) in a bid to encourage young people, particularly girls, to take up an engineering career and tackle a damaging skills shortage.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) said the funding for the elite training facility in Coventry would be introduced alongside a £30 million package for employers to use to attract new workers to the industry.
A Government-commissioned review, led by Professor John Perkins, chief scientific adviser to BIS, said there is evidence of shortages in specific areas of the industry, and that as the economy changes there will be more need for professionals to work in the sector.
It added that the UK is relying on migration for engineering skills, with immigrants accounting for a fifth of workers in sectors such as oil and gas extraction, computer, electronic and optical engineering.
“While this review welcomes the fact that the Government allows employers to import engineering skills in key shortage areas, this should not be our long-term solution.” the review stated.
Prof Perkins added: “I hope this report will be a call to action that will bring engineering employers, the profession and educators together, to own and collectively shape a future in which our supply of engineers grows in quality as well as quantity.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “I am calling on employers and education professionals to get involved and inspire the next generation of engineers.”
