Manufacturing 2015: UTC Leeds part of varied answer to skills shortages
WORK is underway on the site of the region’s latest University Technical College (UTC), which will create a specialist engineering and manufacturing college in Leeds.
The college is due to open in September 2016 in surplus space within the Braime Pressings factory building in Hunslet and the £11m investment will have capacity for 600 pupils aged 14-18.
Kodak is among the Yorkshire-based manufacturers that are backing UTC Leeds, and at a recent round-table event held at Squire Patton Boggs, its managing director Phil Ball explained the motivation behind his company’s involvement.
“In my experience, manufacturers in the region have huge problems getting the right skills in place and the age profile of many of their employees – with many in their 50s – is also an issue,” he said. “The main motivation behind the development of this college was to overcome these issues.
“As a sector, I do think that we’ve brought some of these issues on ourselves by not investing enough in training down the years.”
Karen French, head of manufacturing at Squire Patton Boggs, highlighted the challenge in creating a clear career path for young people.She said: “From talking to manufacturers, there needs to be a more joined-up approach in connecting both schools and universities directly with manufacturers at the start of students’ career journeys.”
The sector must overcome misconceptions that range from the perceived lack of rigour of studying vocational subjects through to the long-term opportunities available within manufacturing.
This latter issue remains a problem among graduates, who can instead choose more lucrative options.
Prof Chee Yew Wong, professor of supply chain management at Leeds University Business School said that – from his conversations with manufacturers – the main issue tends to be a graduate’s attitude when it comes to a career in manufacturing.
He explained: “I do think that there’s a mindset among many graduates that they’ve spent money on university for three years and consequently manufacturing is not what they want to do.
“Instead, I think that many graduates think that they want to work in London in one of the banks – simply because that’s where they’ll make the most money. I’ve consciously set out to show these graduates just how interesting a career in supply chain management and logistics can be – and it’s not a case of sitting in front of a computer for eight hours.”
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