FAC Sector Group

Skills

Sector News

Welcome to the new Skills Website - Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Welcome to the new Skills Website.

The website is designed to focus on the sectors' specific needs and information sources and we plan to develop specific log-in serivces for our members.

Objectives of Group:

Technology Skills Programme

To provide the South East Aerospace and Marine sectors with the skilled workforce it needs to successfully compete within the global economy now and in the future.

This will be achieved through a new mechanism which will radically improve the interface and linking between employers, funding agencies and learning providers: The Technology Skills Programme will also be using a web based technology called CWeb/CRM to gather information from employers across the region and establish a comprehensive and real time appreciation of company and sector specific needs. The system is being used successfully to support other sector focused programmes in the East Midlands and South West of England.

For the system to operate to its full potential we aim to register all aerospace and marine companies across the region to provide a critical mass of information that will enable us to:

Improve the supply of talent to your business by supporting providers such as universities, colleges and funding agencies with the intelligence they need to develop appropriate courses or research programmes
Provide the a job placement and vacancy database system to support dedicated sector recruitment and re-deployment activities – should redundancies be planned, the system can also be used to help re-deploy people early, thus reducing the impact of redundancy and helping retain key skills within the sector and region
Provide job matching, up-skilling, re-training advice and guidance
Present and maximise opportunities for funding from a variety of public sector agencies covering skills, training, research and development
Pull in other areas of expertise as needed

We have now begun to roll the programme out across the region and are working initially with employers who helped with the research phase of the programme.

The programme is funded by SEEDA and delivered through The Farnborough Aerospace Consortium.

Background to Sector Group:

Advanced Engineering, Science and Technology

Technology Skills Programme

In 2006 SEEDA recognised that in a globalised and competitive industrial environment the quality and technical capability of the workforce would be differentiators in winning business. They contracted Farnborough Aerospace Consortium (FAC) and Marine South East (MSE) to identify the future technical skills requirement necessary in the Aerospace and Marine Sectors to ensure not only the retention of business, but also the growth of these sectors in the South East of the UK.

The programme was to be spread over a two year period in two phases. Phase One of the programme focused on establishing facts and perceptions. Specialists were engaged to carry out structured interviews with businesses that ranged from leading multi-nationals to regional medium and small companies. This phase of the programme revealed serious concerns regarding the availability and competitiveness of a high-value engineering workforce for the future.

Of particular concern was the difficulty in recruiting young people into engineering careers. Their educational standards are often inadequate to enter this world of work, resulting in poor retention and increased cost. For many small companies this presents an unacceptable financial burden. In addition many employers were confused and bewildered at the complexity in trying to secure support to enable the up-skilling and re-training of existing employees to meet market needs.

Phase Two of the programme explored possible solutions to these deficiencies and

identifies the common ground between skills provision and business demand, and makes the case for a radical new mechanism to ensure the region can co-invest in a highly competitive and skilled workforce.

Sector Leader & Advisors:

Farnborough Aerospace Consortium

Marine SouthEast

Winchester Consulting

Contact: Richard Smith for further information

Sector Sponsors:

Farnborough Aerospace Consortium

Marine SouthEast

Farnborough College of Technology

Winchester Consulting Ltd

Kingston University

Society of British Aerospace Companies

BAE Systems

Rolls – Royce

South East of England Development Agency

Careers in Aerospace.com

We are writing to invite you to the official launch of www.careersinaerospace.com at the Annual Royal Aeronautical Society’s Aerospace and Aviation Careers Fair at the Society’s London headquarters on 29 October 2010, and to encourage your organisation to be listed on the website which is now live.

For a number of years, the aerospace and defence industries have been lamenting the declining interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths among young people, as well as the quality of careers advice given to young people and the resulting impact on the supply of new talent into the aerospace and defence sectors. There has also been a lack of a unified online message from the sectors and concerns about duplication of resources on various initiatives aimed to address these issues.

Therefore, following two years’ collaboration, the Royal Aeronautical Society and A|D|S are pleased to introduce a new, joint online resource www.careersinaerospace.com , which aims to become the online ‘one-stop-shop’ for impartial Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) on aerospace, aviation and defence careers and skills.

The site is aimed primarily at young people and those responsible for IAG and Careers advice - careers advisors, teachers, parents and carers. It will have a wide range of features, including comprehensive information and advice on training, apprenticeships, graduate employment and career development and a fully moderated ‘Ask the Expert forum’ for advice on specific careers and skills questions. One of the site’s key features will be a Company Directory with linked-in case studies and photo galleries to provide inspirational careers messages and advice to the next generation of aerospace professionals. Companies can upload their details on to the Company Directory in just a matter of minutes and we hope that you will take this opportunity to add your company details at www.careersinaerospace.com/directoryentry A briefing document can be read HERE, please note that the password is ukaerospace2010.

This is not about fulfilling recruitment needs, but showcasing what the aerospace and defence sector does and the vast array of talent and interesting careers stories that our companies offer which will inspire a new generation to take on the challenges which face our sector in the 21st Century.