Micro-electronics group aims to boost UK skills

THE NATIONAL Microelectronics Institute (NMI) is looking to boost skills in the semiconductor and electronics industry and has created a new foundation to foster talent.

The UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) is a collaborative effort and has involvement from the NMI, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Imagination Technologies and Cambridge Silicon Radio, amongst others. It hopes to address skills shortages before they become a real issue and damage the UK's ability to compete in the semiconductor and other electronics related industries.

NMI chief executive Derek Boyd said, "The dramatic decline in the numbers of Electronic Engineering graduates will present the country with a long term issue if left unchecked. We've identified the underlying problems in the existing skills pipeline which undermine the future prospects of the industry and UKESF has been created to tackle the major issues. Its goal is to ensure that the sector is supplied with the quality of talent to enable it to continue to be innovative, competitive and able to provide high-value jobs to support the wider economy."

Starting at the bottom, the UKSEF will approach electronics firms and attempt to encourage them into visiting schools with the aim of whirling up teenage excitement about the sector and the career opportunities it presents. Summer schools will be offered to those students already studying electronics and engineering, while a scholarship scheme will work as a sweetener for both employers and potential employees.

The UK Minister for Higher Education, David Lammy said, "It is essential that we raise awareness of the rewarding careers available to young people in our growth industries, such as those in the electronics sector and this new foundation will help provide the high quality industry-ready graduates we need for economic success."

The UKSEF currently has a five-year plan, and is expecting to see some 80 16-17 year olds at its summer schools, 160 undergraduate scholarships, and 100 sponsor companies. Ten partner universities will continue the work into higher education, while 50 companies will make the trek back to school with enticing mouse mats and tales of lab-based excitement stored in their satchels.

Indro Mukerjee, chairman at C-MAC MicroTechnology, added, "It has taken a lot of hard work and collaboration to get UKESF off the ground and I now look forward to it becoming an integral part of the UK electronics scene. The foundation has set itself realistic goals yet to achieve them more private enterprises need to support it. Forward looking electronics companies need to sign-up to the UKESF programme and help address what is a national concern of strategic importance." µ