Manufacturing and the Skills Crisis in the West Midlands and Chicago: Defining the Problem and Exploring Solutions

Workshop Leader(s): Professor John R. Bryson, Dr Rachel Mulhall

For too long manufacturing has been side-lined as a viable career option for school leavers and many manufacturing firms are experiencing difficulties in recruiting employees. Vocational education can support business growth and youth employment by developing the right skills locally and delivering work-ready school leavers. The workshop will draw together two critical challenges for growth in the UK economy: building a strong manufacturing sector and employment opportunities for young talent. A comparative analysis of employer-engaged education in the UK and US will be used to identify challenges facing vocational education and the contribution it makes to the skills gap in the manufacturing sector.

British manufacturing firms are experiencing a skills crisis. The growth of manufacturing employment and exports is increasingly constrained by hard-to-fill vacancies. The primary constraint facing manufacturing is not global competition, but local labour market difficulties that reflect problems with the alignment between education, particularly vocational education and employment policies. The continued prosperity of the UK rests on an increase in the export of manufactured goods. It is vital that educational providers and policy-makers develop effective solutions to the manufacturing skills crisis. But, a rapid and effective solution is required. This workshop explores the findings of the first detailed comparative study of the University Technical College (UTC) model in England and their American equivalent.

This workshop is the first to compare and contrast approaches to the manufacturing skills crisis being developed in the UK and the US. Policy-makers have much to learn from the American approach which our research has revealed to be radically different from the UTC approach in England. The workshop reveals the value of detailed comparative research in exploring and developing solutions to the local labour market difficulties.

The workshop will seek to:

1. create a dialogue between industry, education and policy-makers as key stakeholders in addressing the skill gap in the manufacturing sector and to identify possible solutions;
2. identify next steps for policy-informed research to help create a labour force that meets the demands of industry and, critically, provides employment opportunities for young talent.

Agenda

14:00-14:30: Defining the skills agenda: outline by a Birmingham manufacturing company and the local enterprise partnership

14:30-15:30: Is vocational education part of the solution? A comparative analysis of the University Technical College (UTC) model in England and the Austin Polytechnic Academy (APA) in Chicago

15:30-16:00: Discussion: Identifying the role of vocational education in addressing the skills gap and work-ready school leavers

The workshop will be led by Professor John R. Bryson and Dr Rachel Mulhall (both University of Birmingham) and is open to everyone interested in manufacturing and vocational education.

If you would like to find out more about this event please email Sarah Jeffery.