A SHORTAGE of essential engineering skills has been highlighted as a significant threat to the UK’s circular economy efforts, according to leading figures in academia, industry and government.
Ahead of the UK’s much-anticipated Circular Economy Strategy, IChemE, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have released a report identifying key roles at risk of shortages and outlining the skills needed to achieve the UK’s circular and green ambitions.
Job losses in struggling industries, coupled with the closure of chemistry and related higher education courses, have cast a shadow over the UK’s engineering sector.
Drawing on insights from over 100 experts in chemical and materials science and engineering, the report calls for “ambitious, aligned and stable” policy frameworks to support regulatory reform, nationwide reskilling initiatives and the modernisation of higher education curricula.
Duncan Lugton, head of policy and impact at IChemE, said: “This report contains really valuable evidence and recommendations that we will be feeding into the upcoming Circular Economy Strategy, the post-16 skills white paper and into other conversations with government such as on implementing the Industrial Strategy.
“This research really helps us make the case for the importance of chemical engineering – it sets out very clearly how chemical engineers are at the forefront of making a more sustainable world and that we need more of them.”
Based on survey findings, the report identified 24 roles and 28 essential skills that engineers deemed most important in a circular economy – highlighting the significance of materials and chemical engineering, as well as research and development expertise.
Skills at risk of shortages include research and development, metallurgical processes and techniques, and materials analysis.
Respondents identified a lack of emphasis in higher education and limited graduate awareness of certain roles and skills as key drivers of these shortages.
A respondent from the waste and recycling sector noted: “Hydrometallurgy is not regularly covered at undergraduate level; there is a shortage of skilled process engineers as they are in demand cross many sectors and regulatory compliance is increasingly complex and only really learnt on the job.”
Another expert from the manufacturing sector added: “There isn’t the attraction to technical roles in science and engineering due to many factors – assumptions that the training is hard, the pay is not great and there are not great career prospects”.
The report offers several recommendations to decision-makers across government, industry, academia and professional bodies. Its central proposal calls for all sectors to collaborate on a quantitative skills map to identify needs and reduce shortages.
For industry, the report recommends working with other sectors, professional bodies and policymakers to maintain up-to-date insights into employers’ needs. For higher education, it calls for engineering and science curricula to evolve in step with skill demands, both nationally and regionally.
Key recommendations to the UK government include working with devolved governments and Skills England for strategic skills planning, including the mapping out of national and regional skills needs, cross-sector demand, replacement demand and the implications of industrial transitions.
The UK government’s Circular Economy Strategy is set to be published later this quarter.
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