The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) has given more details on the availability of, and bidding criteria for, funds from one of three new £10 million funding streams unveiled in June (HEJ – August 2014) by the then Skills and Enterprise Minister, Matthew Hancock, to boost the UK engineering workforce.
As reported in HEJ’s August 2014 issue, the Minister announced on 12 June that the Department would be making available £30 m to ‘increase the supply of engineers’, encourage more women into engineering, and address engineering skills shortages in smaller companies.
The Engineering Council is keen that potential bidders, and particularly engineering companies, are fully cognisant of the criteria for the £10 m funding made available for ‘Improving Engineering Careers’. It explained: “The Government’s Employer Ownership Engineering project funds are open to any company which directly employs people in engineering occupations, where company growth and development are being held up by skills gaps or skills shortages in engineering. The focus will be on skills training outcomes that are additional to an employer’s current activity. Training should target employees ranging from skilled operators to associate professionals, and those on pathways through to professional status. These skills equate to Levels 2-6 of the Qualifications and Credit Framework.”
The Council explains that ‘Engineering project funds’ should be used for:
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‘Career progression’.
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‘Conversion training’, allowing people to transfer from other occupations into engineering ‘to fill skills gaps, and increase the talent pipeline’.
Dr Caroline Sudworth, head of Technicians and Apprenticeships at the Engineering Council (pictured), said: “Applicants (for funding) should choose what sort of training best meets these objectives. Training activity could focus on:
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Career progression training for associate professionals, technicians, and skilled operatives, to adapt to changing technologies or new business processes.
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Employers re-skilling, or recruiting people with allied qualifications or skills, to enter into, or return to, engineering. r Supporting mid-career returners to come back to, or into, engineering occupations.
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Pathways into Technician or engineering professions. This could include opportunities for employees to achieve chartered status.”
The Engineering Council points out, however, that there are ‘limitations on the sort of training this fund can support’, adding: “Funding of first and postgraduate degrees, apprenticeships, and traineeships programmes, where funding can be obtained through existing funding channels, will not be in scope.” For more details, visit: http://tinyurl.com/lcmzqu9
