Manufacturing a world class future...
2nd December 2010
Semta, the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies, today announced a strategic three way partnership agreement with Cogent, the Sector Skills Council for Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Nuclear, Oil and Gas, Petroleum and Polymers, and the Engineering Training Council in Northern Ireland (ETCNI), an employer-led body and Semta’s Northern Ireland representative, whose members represent the engineering community.
The partnership means greater collaboration between the three organisations, ultimately simplifying the skills landscape in line with employer feedback. It will support Northern Ireland’s manufacturing, engineering and science-based employers to upskill and re-skill their workforce, as well as to attract new talent.
The partnership provides enhanced support for initiatives relevant to all three sectors, including qualifications such as National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in sector specialisms and generalist qualifications such as Business Improvement Techniques.
Philip Whiteman, Chief Executive of Semta, said: “Semta’s job is to make identifying and tackling skills shortages easier for employers, stakeholders and government. In partnering with Cogent and ETCNI, we will strengthen our stakeholder and employer relationships, ultimately ensuring we are positioned to best support the skills and development needs of the sector.”
Semta’s recent Sector Skills Assessment report indicates the need for around 205,000 new recruits within its sectors between 2010-2016, to replace those retiring (30-40% of workers in Semta’s footprint are aged 45+), and to meet the new skills demand from rapidly growing sectors like composites and advanced manufacturing.
Joanna Woolf, Cogent CEO said: “This agreement will provide greater simplicity for employers when it comes to upskilling their workforce. All three of our organisations share the same vision, so our partnership is a natural one, allowing us to work together to deliver joint solutions for employers.
“Cogent will also bring its new Skills Charter for Life Science Industries into the partnership. This is aimed at ensuring that the high growth life science industries have access to the right skills, at the right time, delivered through flexible and easy to access learning provision.”