Skills solution: it’s all academic

The new £14m national academy to raise manufacturing skills has been launched by Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling. The launch event took place last month at Warwickshire College and was attended by a host of senior figures from industry. The National Skills Academy for Manufacturing (NSAM) is one of a series of academies set up by government across sectors of industry and it promises to deliver courses designed by industry for industry. The stated aim is to train 40,000 students a year by 2012. Some of the biggest names in manufacturing are backing the project, including Rolls-Royce, Ford, GKN, BAE Systems, VT Group and Airbus UK. The NSAM will have its operational hub in Birmingham and will have nine regional spokes. Each region is led – indeed championed – by a well-known manufacturing employer. The NSAM will set national standards for the content of training programmes. It will validate both programmes and providers, awarding the Academy ‘badge’ to those that meet the required standard. It is hoped that this badge will be a stamp of quality training for employers across the country. Any college or training provider will be able to apply to stage Academy courses, or to go into firms to deliver the learning. Accredited larger firms will be able to train staff at smaller firms. Allan Cook, CEO of aerospace and defence giant Cobham (pictured), chairs the policy group within NSAM. He told the audience at the launch event that he began his own career as an engineering apprentice almost 40 years ago and is passionate about the importance of this Academy: “It’s particularly rewarding to see the policy actually going into production,” he said. He commented that the range of training on offer to manufacturing employers has been varied and inconsistent: “The provider marketplace is very fragmented and employer feedback shows the plethora of suppliers is confusing. Until now, it’s been supplier-led rather than demand-driven.” And he added: “ It’s not that the training to date has been bad, more that is wasn’t consistently applied.” One of the regional employer champions is Airbus UK, which will lead activity in the south west. MD Ian Gray told the audience that Airbus is proud to play a part in British manufacturing and, as such, is totally committed to playing a pivotal role in the NSAM. He explained that Airbus UK has 640 apprentices across its two sites and the vast majority of training is carried out by Deeside College in North Wales. The organisation already allows companies in its supply chain to ‘piggy back’ on this training. “Our apprentice training company was opened up to smaller companies – we are able to provide an infrastructure at a cost level that they couldn’t provide themselves. You need the strength and direction of larger companies, but we can’t do it on our own. We need the success of SMEs.”