University qualifications need to match requirements of industry

UNIVERSITY qualifications need to match the skills needed by industry, representatives from the engineering industry and academic sector told a Birmingham business conference.

Tony Carr, of excavator giant Caterpillar said: “We have some vacancies in manufacturing and engineering that have been left open for months because we cannot find talent.”

He said the firm was now growing its own talent rather than waiting for qualified graduates by working in partnership with Birmingham Metropolitan College and recruiting apprentices for 18 and 30-month training programmes.

Simon Collinson, Dean of Birmingham Business School at the University of Birmingham, said careers in science and manufacturing had to be made more attractive.

“Business and management degrees which include finance and accounting are the most popular.  But if salaries increased in manufacturing and engineering perhaps more students would apply,” he said.