BQ2 Scotland special report: Bridging the skills gap

BUSINESS QUARTER SCOTLAND: Special Report - Bridging the skills gap

OOR WATER Experienced engineers at Scottish Water are training the next generation of apprentices COLLABORATION Skills Development Scotland is working closely with its partners in industry to tackle skills shortages

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How can the private sector, government and academia work more closely together?

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MYSECTOR an easy search for qualifications

MySector is an interactive area on SQA’s website which allows you to browse available SQA qualifications by sector and by qualification level. Find the ideal qualification for your future. www.sqa.org.uk/mysector

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CONTENTS 06. PLANNING AND PARTNERSHIP Skills Development Scotland is addressing the nation’s skills challenge 12. QUALIFIED TO SUCCEED The Scottish Qualifications Authority accredit and award the training that will help to grow our nation’s economy, 18. BRINGING TOGETHER THE WORLDS OF WORK AND STUDY Heriot-Watt University pioneers of graduate-level apprenticeships 25. LIVE DEBATE A panel of experts discuss how to address the skills gap in Scotlaand 32. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Glasgow Caledonian University working with industry to shape the content of its life sciences courses 38. POWERHOUSE IN THE SOUTH Dumfries & Galloway College demonstrate how their institution is working with industry to train the next generation of workers.

WELCOME

For far too long, skills have been viewed as something of a Cinderella subject, relegated to the bottom of the agenda at meetings and always treated as a “soft” topic that only detracts from the bottom line.

Yet nothing could be further from the truth. Entrepreneurs need themselves and their staff to have the right skills so that they can innovate and meet the needs of their customers.

Skills aren’t simply the remit of public sector agencies either. Entrepreneurs need to engage with colleges, universities and private providers to make sure that the have the right skills within their business.

Putting together this BQ2 supplement with our commercial partners has highlighted to me the importance of skills – not just for individual businesses but also for the wider economy.

It’s been fascinating to learn more about the family of apprenticeships – from foundation apprenticeships for those still at school through the more-familiar modern apprenticeships and now the new graduate-level apprenticeships, through which apprentices can gain a degree-level qualification while working.

It’s not all about apprenticeships either. Continuing professional development is key to bringing Scotland’s productivity up to the levels displayed by our European competitors.

Though they may sound like horrible contortions of the English language, ungainly phrases like “re-skilling” and “up-skilling” are also crucial. It’s not enough to sit still and think that the skills gained at college or university or in work-based training at the start of a career will sustain a member of staff throughout their entire working life.

Instead, entrepreneurs and individuals need to continually re-examine whether they have the right skills to fulfil not just their present role, but also the next role to come. Most of us will have three, four or more careers during our lifetimes and that’s why lifelong learning is so important.

CodeClan is a fantastic example and was highlighted at the BQ Live Debate that was held to accompany this supplement. Scotland’s first digital skills academy was set up to help workers with no previous computer coding experience to gain the knowledge and understanding they need to enter the industry.

What’s more, CodeClan was set up in just nine months. It shows that, where industry can present a clear need, the public sector can act quickly to begin addressing a skills shortage.

Peter Ranscombe, BQ Scotland editor

44. WATER GOES HI-TECH Scottish Water, explains why the publicly-owned company isn’t only focused on engineers In association with

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BQ, Spectrum 6, Spectrum Business Park, Seaham, SR7 7TT. www.bqlive.co.uk. As a dedicated supporter of entrepreneurship, BQ is making a real and tangible contribution to local, regional and national economic growth across the UK. We are unique in what we aim to achieve as a media brand, a brand that has established a loyal audience of high growth SMEs and leading business influencers. They wholeheartedly believe in BQ’s focus on people – those individuals that are challenging the traditional ways of doing things. They are our entrepreneurs. BQ reaches entrepreneurs and senior business executives across Scotland, the North East and Cumbria, the North West, Yorkshire, the Midlands, Wales, London and the South, in-print, online and through branded events. All contents copyright © 2017 BQ. All rights reserved. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, howsoever caused. No liability can be accepted for illustrations, photographs, artwork or advertising materials while in transmission or with the publisher or their agents. All content in this BQ2 should be regarded as advertorial.

All information is correct at time of going to print, August 2017.

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CONTACTS SALES BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Helen Gowland

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PLANNING AND PARTNERSHIP for tomorrow’s skills Skills Development Scotland is addressing the nation’s skills challenge through a strategy of close collaboration with industry and education, as Peter Jackson finds talking to Chris Brodie.

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ow productivity and high youth unemployment has dogged the UK and Scottish economies for most of the past half century, defying successive government attempts to get us to work more effectively.

British workers produce less per hour than their competitors in say Japan or Germany, or even in that land of the long lunch and generous holidays, France.

But, while the problems have been persistent, there is now a general consensus as to one of the root causes: we develop highly-skilled people – but there’s a mismatch between the skills they have and skills that employers are looking for.

Now, with Brexit looming and the need for us to compete much more effectively in global markets, finding a solution has taken on a new urgency.

Fortunately, in Scotland the government took steps to address the problem five years ago when it turned to Skills Development Scotland (SDS) as part of its skills strategy.

SDS is the national skills agency. Employing

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more than 1,400 people, it works with employers and individuals to provide Scotland with a skilled workforce. It supports business and industry to create more than 26,000 apprenticeships jobs a year, paying a contribution of about £76m a year towards the cost of training apprentices. It also runs the careers information and guidance service with careers advisers embedded in every state secondary school in Scotland.

The government asked SDS to work with strategic growth industries such as energy, life sciences, creative industries and financial services to develop skills investment plans (SIPs) throughout the economy.

Chris Brodie, lead head, skills planning and sector development at SDS, says: “What they asked us to do was to work with industry to answer three basic questions: what was driving growth and was the industry likely to need more people? What was changing in the industry that might have an impact on the nature of skills that industry required? And how comfortable or happy was that industry with

what was coming out of the skills system?’’

The handful of sectors covered in the original remit has since been expanded to cover areas such as digital and information and communication technology (ICT), construction, engineering, health and social care.

From the beginning SDS took an evidencebased approach. It has undertaken labour market intelligence, working directly with companies and using industry leadership groups to identify the major skills issues, the priorities within them and how the skills system should be adapting.

SDS worked with industry on sector specific SIPs. These have been supported by regional skills assessments, which provide a coherent evidence base for colleges and universities, and other public bodies to use in planning their skills provision. They highlight economic and labour market data, and, for the first time, offer trends and forecasts at both regional and local authority level, drawing on a summary of that national evidence base and a summary of what the sectoral SIPs, have to say.

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“We’ve got a national evidence base which tells us how the economy is moving, informed by deep insight from industry’’ says Brodie.

“The challenge is, how do we then use that to align what the skills system is delivering behind the needs of the economy?’’

The answer was certainly not to adopt some kind of Soviet command-style system, attempting to second guess the market by providing a supply of the appropriate labour with the anticipated required skills.

He explains: “What we are not trying to do is deliver a demand-and-control system. Rather this is about putting forward our datasets and best evidence of where the economy is now, how it is moving and where the demand for skills may be in the future.”

He adds: “I don’t think you can forecast the future with certainty. But you can determine long- term trends in the labour market and if you think they’re likely to continue.

“The important thing is that it is not SDS colleagues working in isolation. All our work is about engagement with industry and partners.’’

It has set up 14 skills groups and it also works

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closely with colleges and universities to gather their views on the likely direction of demand so that it can then point colleges and learning providers in the right direction to meet that demand.

“SDS doesn’t dictate or seek to control, but created evidence-based demand statements for learning providers,’’ says Brodie.

One area where such evidence was acted upon was in digital. It was clear that Scotland faced the global problem of an acute shortage of young people and a wider workforce with IT skills. The relentless and accelerating pace of digitisation has driven a voracious demand for people with digital skills and experience in just about every sector.

“Digital is the number one area of the Scottish economy where we need relentless focus on developing capability in skills,’’ says Brodie.

However, a few years ago the training wasn’t in place to cope with this demand. There was a decline in computer science degrees. “Our SIP work revealed that in a number of parts of Scotland there was no capacity to teach

computing science in schools.

“That was just one of the disconnects between where the economy was going and how the skills system was responding,’’ says Brodie. “At the same time as this phenomenal growth in demand for skills we were seeing parts of the university and college system switching off provision because of a lack of demand from learners, and dissatisfaction from employers on the number of people being trained.

“So we formed an industry-wide group, supported by £6.5m from government and we essentially went to the industry group and said, “tell us where we spend this money’.”

The result was a broad programme of activity targeted at strengthening capability in schools, raising awareness of technology careers through the “Digital World” Campaign, working with colleges and universities to increase the volume and quality of higher education and further education provision and supporting the establishment of Codeclan, Scotland’s first digital skills academy.

“The critical point is that we didn’t just fund one part of the system, but we looked right across and just tried to get to the root of the problem,’’ says Brodie.

Similarly in the field of health and social care it was possible to identify demand and take steps to increase supply. The Scottish Government has made a commitment to double the number of hours of free childcare for under-fives. This not only presents a massive business opportunity but also a major challenge in terms of skills. SDS estimates there could be need for anything up to a further 12,000 people over the next five years to meet that demand.

Brodie says: “We’ve done a major piece of work this year on the demand for early years learning. Again, we’re using that and working with local authorities to influence skills and training provision in that sector.’’

So, it’s not command and control, but neither is the emphasis the same as that south of the Border.

Brodie explains: “The approach in Scotland is very different to that in England. The English approach is much more laissez-faire and market led. Ours is probably a bit more coherent, I would argue. But then I would say that wouldn’t I?’’ SDS, however, has not only been taking a

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“There were big concerns about youth unemployment, but at the same time, big concerns about Scottish productivity.”

sector-specific approach to skills, it has also sought to address the problem in the round, looking at the way in which we train and educate all our young people and prepare them for work.

To this end, it looked long and hard at the development of our system and compared it to how things have operated in Europe.

Brodie explains: “If you went back 40 years ago and looked at the route school leavers took into the labour market, something like 70% would go straight into employment, and if you fast forward to 2017, that number is sitting at about 30%, with 70% going into college or university. We think that something has been lost along the way. It’s not just about the nature of work changing; some of that generation who went straight to work would have been in jobs with work-based learning and gaining their qualification in the workplace.

“The second thing is, we carried out research on what was happening through the recession when there were big concerns about youth unemployment, but at the same time, big concerns about Scottish productivity. So we had a programme of work around what were the success factors in the countries with successful economies: the Norways, the Switzerlands, the Germanys of this world.’’

Lengthy studies and observation of the labour markets in these countries identified three key – and connected-factors: higher levels of productivity, much lower levels of youth unemployment, and a much higher proportion of post-16-yearolds in work-based learning.

Brodie says: “We wondered whether there was some way in the system where we could get back – not to 70% of kids going straight into work – but towards an education and skills system where you could acquire graduate-level qualifications in the workplace.’’

SDS worked with a range of industry groups that were facing challenges in recruitment to develop the graduate level apprenticeship (GLA), supported by European Social Funds.

“Essentially, this allows employees to learn and gain an industry-recognised qualification whilst in the workplace through reflecting and working with others on real life challenges. We think that has got a number of benefits for the individual, for the economy and for the skills system,’’ says Brodie.

“For the individual, you’re not spending four years building up student debt and you’re earning a wage while you’re learning.

For companies, they get access to people who are more likely to fit the culture of their company because they can mould them and some of the early evidence from the apprenticeship programme is that they are likely to be loyal and be with the

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Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Spotlight On...David Linton, BT Head of graduate development David Linton. Working at BT for 22 years, he is a member of the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board Employer Engagement group.

What does the company do?

We use the power of communication to make a better world.

BT is one of the world’s leading communications services companies, serving the needs of consumers in the UK and across the world, where we provide fixed-line services, broadband, mobile and TV products and services as well as networked IT services. Our customers cover individuals, small and medium sized enterprises, domestic businesses and the public sector, to multinational corporations and local and national government organisations.

What’s a typical day for you?

I wish there was a typical day. I’m responsible for the delivery of BT’s end to end graduate programme from the point of hire through to them transitioning into the business two years later.

I own the strategy and design of the programme and am often working with internal stakeholders on shaping our graduate proposition as well as a range of internal and external suppliers in delivering our development programme. I’m also actively involved in the apprentice programme in Scotland and working on our levy implementation plans for the UK. What is your vision for growing the apprenticeship offer in Scotland?

BT continues to have a strong representation in Scotland with business areas such as Openreach being a really recognisable apprentice recruiter.

Moreover, the introduction of the apprenticeship levy has seen us take the opportunity to ramp-u p apprentice recruitment generally, going from circa. 700 per year to close to 2,000 for 2017-18. We don’t see the levy as an inhibitor. We’re committed to continuing to grow our apprenticeship offer in Scotland and offering great apprenticeships and careers for our young people.

Why do you think the work of the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board is important?

The Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board helps shape industry thinking around apprenticeships and makes sure that there is a strategy that supports Scotland’s economic goals, not just the resource plans of a business. I also think it’s really important that we inspire change and actually galvanise real action rather than being a policy talking shop like many of us have seen before.

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“We’ve had interest from Norway, from the Philippines, from Pakistan, in the approach in Scotland. I hesitate to call it unique, but it’s certainly different.”

company rather than move on. In the long run the potential benefit to the Exchequer is around a more efficient and effective way of building our graduate-level skills into the economy.’’

Last year, SDS supported 27 GLAs in two pilot schemes and, for this year, it has now contracted for up to 379 across nine universities and colleges and it is currently involved in another round of contracting for 11 frameworks.

Brodie adds: ”Our ambition is for this to become almost a central part of the Scottish university offer. The aim is for the GLAs model to become part of the mainstream.’’

Alongside GLAs is the foundation apprenticeship programme for young people at the senior phase of school – usually staring in S5 to not only give them a qualification but also to equip them to make more informed choices about their careers.

“It’s not just aimed at young people who may have taken what would have traditionally been a ‘vocational route’ - it’s about encouraging a new style of work-based learning.’’ says Brodie. “You get the opportunity

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to get some industry experience and a qualification certified by SQA at the same level of learning as a Higher. So we have foundation apprenticeships in things like engineering and digital as well as in things like construction and social care.

“One of the interesting things around the pilots, for example in engineering, is that they encourage young people to think more widely about their options and about work-based learning”. Some say, “I hadn’t really thought of engineering but now that I’ve enjoyed the learning, I had work experience and this is where I want to go and move onto an engineering degree’. Conversely some kids have said, “This what I always wanted to do, but now it’s not’. So they are making better informed decisions.

“The work we have done – and we are really grateful for the support we’ve had from the university sector in this – is to secure tariff equivalency around foundation apprenticeships. So the skills system has recognised the value of it. And for employers it has been a way for them to identify and recruit talent.’’

Young people spend time out of school at college and with a local employer, and complete the foundation apprenticeship alongside their other subjects.

Foundation apprenticeships are currently available in ten subjects including civil engineering, software development and financial services. As well as providing workbased learning for pupils they also support a talent pipeline for employers.

In 2014-2015 SDS ran two pilots for foundation apprenticeships in West Lothian and Fife and it is expecting to contract for up to 1,500 places around the time of writing, which will be delivered across more than 150 schools and will touch every local authority area in Scotland.

“We think that foundation apprenticeships can make a major contribution to improving work experience and improving the work readiness of young people and critically helping them make really informed career choices,’’ says Brodie.

Again, the underlying principle in all this has been one of full engagement and partnership with the worlds of business, skills, education

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“We think foundation apprenticeships can make a major contribution to improving work experience and improving the work readiness of young people.”

and academia.

Brodie explains: “This is an ambitious programme of expansion around work-based learning and the apprenticeship family. Employers have got a huge interest in expanding apprenticeships and work-based learning, in no small part driven by the introduction of the apprenticeship levy. The message on the UK apprenticeship levy - no matter their size or sector employers can access support for apprenticeships in Scotland.

Website www.apprenticeships.scot provides step-by-step help with further support from our employer services team.

“SDS believes in enabling industry to take a leadership role in skills development. That’s why the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board was established, following recommendations from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce. Led by employers and industry representatives across a range of sectors the board will ensure that the development of apprenticeships in Scotland is aligned with industry and economic need, fair work and job opportunities. It is made up of four groups: group board, employer engagement group, employer equalities group and the frameworks and standards group.

“Those are not talking shops, those are busy groups that are tasked with doing the heavy lifting of what apprenticeship policy should look like in those areas,’’ says Brodie.

When SDS established the SIPs it created industry leadership groups in skills for each of the industry sectors. It will go back to those groups this autumn to ask whether they believe the work it has done to gauge demand reflects the true situation and whether all the type of apprenticeships – or frameworks – are operating effectively.

“So we have quite a structured process to give industry a say on not just how much we contract but on whether we have got the right types of apprenticeships in place,’’ says Brodie.

SDS’s strategy is perhaps more hands-on than that south of the Border, but, according to Brodie it is attracting interest from England, and the Department for Education in Whitehall is keen to understand how SDS has built its approach.

He adds: “Our approach is about working with employers and partners to continue to improve and build on the great assets in the Scottish skills system.

“We’ve had interest from Norway, from the Philippines, from Pakistan, in the approach we’ve taken in Scotland. I hesitate to call it unique, but it’s certainly different.’’ n

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Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board (SAAB) Spotlight On...Steven Grier, Microsoft

Steven Grier is country manager at Microsoft, and member of the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board Employer Equalities Group.

What does the company do?

We build software and services that help empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. Yes, it is a corporate mission statement but it genuinely seems to fit with what we do.

Do you have an apprenticeship programme at Microsoft?

Yes we do – we have a wide ranging early-in-career programme across Microsoft in the UK and in Scotland. We also help drive and promote apprenticeships and have recently taken a new target in Scotland to drive 6,000 digital modern apprenticeships by 2020 and double the number of female apprenticeships in the technology cohort.

What is your vision for growing the apprenticeship offer in Scotland?

It is hugely important for Scotland as a country that we look at every possible career journey that can help bridge some of the skills gaps we can see appearing in the technology and digital landscape.

The popularity of the modern apprenticeship programmes has been inspirational and it’s really encouraging to see foundation apprenticeships and graduate apprenticeships programmes adding to the possibilities.

In some areas however we have very clear diversity gaps and it would be great, for example, to see more females coming into the digital space.

Why do you think the work of the Scottish Apprenticeship Advisory Board is important?

It is really simple; apprenticeships are there to help employers grow their businesses. Having SAAB with its employer representation keeps everything focused on the needs of these businesses, helping them find and develop the skills they need.

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Qualified to

succeed The Scottish Qualifications Authority works with both large and smaller companies to accredit and award the training that will help to grow our nation’s economy, as Alasdair MacRae explains.

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hen entrepreneurs think of qualifications, many will remember the certificates that they and their children received at school, whether they were O-Grades, Standard Grades, Intermediates or the new National 4s or National 5s. Yet school certificates are just the tip of the iceberg for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

Created in 1997 through the merger of the Scottish Examination Board and the Scottish Vocational Education Council, the SQA is Scotland’s accreditation and awarding body for a whole host of qualifications, from the National and Higher courses sat by school pupils through to the Higher National Certificate (HNC) and Higher National Diploma (HND) qualifications offered by further education colleges.

Many of its qualifications are awarded outside the formal classroom setting. The Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) are focused on training and development for those already on-the-job, while National Progression Awards (NPAs) can help people into the world of work and Professional Development Awards (PDAs) can aid them in developing their skills in professional settings.

Some of the SQA’s most-popular qualifications enable employees to have a licence to practice – such as in the construction industry for the Construction

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Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) Card – or for operatives and supervisors working on roads, through Street Works qualifications.

“The ideas for qualifications can come from lots of different places,” explains Alasdair MacRae head of business development and customer support at the SQA. “Suggestions can come from customers, members of staff, industry bodies or even the Scottish Government.

“If a company has spotted a qualification that it thinks its staff needs then it can get in touch with our business development team.

Our qualifications design teams includes representatives from schools, colleges, employers, trade bodies and skills councils.

“We make sure that the SQA’s qualifications are inclusive and reflect the need for progression, and also that they reflect Scotland’s economic and cultural needs. We’re a non-departmental public body, so we can also develop qualifications that can help to protect more niche skills if they are important to Scotland – it’s not all about volume, whereas some other awarding organisations have to do it on commercial terms.”

One of the niche qualifications developed by the SQA covered the Harris tweed industry.

The qualification has helped to preserve skills in the industry, which now produces tweed for many international fashion brands.

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“SQA is uniquely placed to help young people realise their potential and achieve their ambitions because we work with training providers, employers, colleges, schools, local authorities and stakeholders like SDS. ”

Other qualifications have a much broader appeal. Figures from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) showed that the Scotland’s digital technology sector is creating 12,600 jobs each year and the SQA is working to help fill those vacancies with qualified candidates.

“At times, it can be difficult for employers to predict skills gaps and we need to be a step ahead of that process,” MacRae explains. “Both as an employer and a parent, it’s important that we get that process right.

“I’ve got three children – one has just entered the world of work having completed his HND, another has just completed his Highers and my daughter is in the latter stages of primary school. Even in that small personal sample, the choices facing each of them will be very, very different.

“It’s predicted that young people will now have multiple careers and some are already employed in roles that didn’t exist as recently as five or ten years ago. Technology will have a significant impact and people are already talking about a fourth industrial revolution, marked by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and the internet of things.

“All of that is shaping the skills gaps we’re seeing. For example, in the computing industry our qualifications must meet the needs of a

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range of learners, from young people to older people getting their first taste of the industry.

“There’ll be people within the industry who want to further hone their skills or broaden their skills. And then there’ll be people from other areas who want to move into the industry.”

MacRae points to areas such as coding and cyber security, where demand is outstripping supply. High-profile examples of cyber-security breaches always drives demand for more training and more qualifications.

“Dundee & Angus College has established a code academy using our qualifications, which is helping to bridge that skills gap,” he says.

“It’s establishing links between local schools, universities and businesses.

“Schools are providing these opportunities too. Kyle Academy in South Ayrshire has been instrumental in developing the SQA’s NPA in cyber security – that’s the first cyber security qualification available to school-age candidates anywhere in the UK and provides pupils from fourth year to sixth year with the opportunity to study areas including digital forensics, data security and ethical hacking.

“Another good example is our partnership with Code Clan, which offers a 16-week intensive course that teaches coding to people who have no previous experience. It’s

recognised by employers and leads on to jobs at the end of it.”

MacRae points to the speed with which courses like the one offered by Code Clan could help to bridge specific skills gaps. He also highlights the roles that more traditional qualifications – such as the one-year HNC and the two-year HND – can play in quickly training people to fill skills shortages.

“We’re also seeing changes in traditional industries, such as construction, where there’s more off-site building and then onsite assembly,” he adds. “Look at being a car mechanic – that’s more about computer-aided diagnostics now than getting oily rags out, and that trend will continue as we switch to electric cars when petrol and diesel engines are phased out.

“In the engineering industry, we’re now seeing the emergence of tidal and offshore wind energy. All these areas are touching on more-traditional skillsets but placing them in a new context.

“Developments in these areas don’t just alter the content of qualifications but can also change the level of the qualification. A car mechanic may now need to be more skilled at a higher level than they were in the past, for example.”

Where off-the-shelf qualifications aren’t

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available, the SQA also offers a customised awards service to create bespoke qualifications for employers. MacRae says that recognising employees’ achievements with qualifications rather than just offering training can help to both motivate and retain members of staff.

Back in 2014, the Scottish Government published “Developing the Young Workforce” (DYW), its youth employment strategy, which came in response to the final report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, led by former Wood Group chief executive and chairman Sir Ian Wood. “DYW is still developing but I think the approach is great,” says MacRae. “I think the SQA is uniquely placed within the DYW programme to help young people realise their potential and achieve their ambitions because we work with training providers, employers, colleges, schools, local authorities and stakeholders like SDS. “We’re uniquely placed to work with all these groups. Our team of regional managers plays an important role in getting these groups to work together – it’s a great initiative but it will only work if people come together.

“We also understand the needs of both learners and employers and we can help one group to help the other and through that create a more-qualified and therefore

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motivated and productive workforce. Our qualifications suite has been well-suited to DYW and it’s a compliment that we’ve not had to make huge changes to our range of qualifications to support DYW. “It backs-up the fact that the qualifications suite is already there to help young people into work and it helps to move the initiative forward quicker as well because we’re not starting from scratch. The qualifications are designed and reviewed in partnership with employers and learning institutions along the way.”

MacRae also points to the efforts by schools to help pupils move into the workplace. He praises the work being carried out in vocational areas as well as traditional academic disciplines.

“For example, members of staff at Craigroyston Community High School in Edinburgh are delivering a pre-apprenticeship programme for senior pupils, who embark on year-long structured work experience placements for local businesses such as Apex Hotels,” he says. “While they’re on placement for two afternoons a week, they continue to study for their qualifications at the school, while working towards industry-recognised vocational qualifications too.

“They can then go on to Modern Apprenticeships with prospective employers.

For people who lack motivation, this means

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they can see a path of progression laid out in front of them, giving them a successful outcome.”

As well as its work in its homeland, the SQA also has centres in other parts of the UK and overseas. It is recognised by the Office of Qualifications & Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) to deliver qualifications in England, while its international operations include an established programme in China.

“The beauty of the SQA is that we’ve got qualifications for just about everyone,” adds MacRae. “We’ve got qualifications for pupils in schools and students in colleges, for trainees and apprentices, for people who already have qualifications and for people who don’t have any qualifications, for people in employment and for people not in employment. We have qualifications that cater for all these needs.” n Find out more about the SQA at www.sqa.org.uk, see a chart comparing the levels of the Scottish Credit & Qualifications Framework (SCQF) and explaining how they relate to qualifications gained in the past at http://bit.ly/2x6j2ua and read a guide for employers on national qualifications at www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/59032.html and a guide to Scottish Qualifications at www.sqa.org.uk/qualsguide

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Results Matter S

a

SQA’s Michelle Forfar and

m act Resu ts

arry Walker of Impact Results standing, centre with the rest of the Impact Team

SQA is co itted to i rovin the ros ects for youn eo le in Scotland and su ortin the rowth of businesses across the country. y wor in to ether with s ecific sectors industries and businesses we can tailor and ada t our qualifications to ensure they are relevant and useful.

act esults has been wor in with SQA as a trainin rovider since deliverin qualifications that suit their business needs and the needs of their e loyees includin i lo as in nfor ation echnolo y an eleco unications rofessional e elo Mana e ent

ent

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ar s in inistration

act was een to wor with an awardin body with a roven trac record in qualifications and s ills in order to a i ise the effectiveness of their trainin ro ra es.

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‘We are now into our third year as a training provider with SQA, and the relationship has been fantastic!’ says arry al er rainin ecruit ent ana er at act.

arry is deli hted. e are roud of the rowth we’ve had over the last four years. e want to be the o to business for trainin needs in las ow and are rateful to SQA for their su ort.’

‘Our SQA account manager, Michelle Forfar, has been such a great support — a real asset to SQA.’

Alasdair ac ae SQA ead of usiness evelo ent and usto er Su ort said ‘Our dedicated team of Regional Managers and Business Development Consultants are working together with businesses across Scotland. We can provide the best possible advice and guidance for qualifications and skills development at a local level.’

‘Working with SQA we are getting the results we wanted. The support from SQA has been very open and honest, and Michelle has always been there on the end of the phone or by email if we need an answer.’ act has rown and with SQA qualifications and su ort the contact centre e erts have seen a ositive effect on staff erfor ance. arry continued ‘Team morale and productivity have certainly increased. As the team are being rewarded and recognised for their efforts, they are more loyal and committed not just to the growth of Impact but to their own development.’

Since arry has witnessed first hand how his collea ues have ro ressed and develo ed with SQA qualifications ‘We have promoted four people within the business who started off as Customer Service Advisors and have since moved to managers.

These colleagues have also progressed through SVQs in Customer Service to SVQs in Management.

‘For our staff to see these progression opportunities is great. It shows them that they too can progress and succeed if they work at it!’ act esults is loo in to increase their ortfolio of qualifications and they are now a lyin to deliver qualifications in retail and hos itality internally and e ternally. he rowth of the trainin side of the business has allowed act to develo a new trainin acade y i act rainin which is se arate fro the ain business. ased in the las ow offices in ron ate the trainin acade y delivers SQA qualifications as well as a renticeshi s e learnin and o en courses and offers roo boo in for all trainin needs.

BQ2 Skills Autumn 17 BOOK.indb 17

‘Our relationship with Impact shows that, working together with Industry, SQA can help businesses improve productivity through creating a better skilled and more motivated workforce.’

o are m act Resu ts act is a las o ase ulti channel contact centre an usiness rocess utsourcer s ecialisin in custo er ser ice an custo er e erience lannin hey eli er custo er ser ice solutions across a nu er of lan ua es on a i e ran e of custo er ser ice channels act s ain ai is to e ten the custo er lifecycle y for in lon ter relationshi s ith their clients an or in in artnershi to ensure that each interaction results in a ositi e outco e for the custo er act has een o eratin for o er years an has seen si nificant ro th in the ast years ro in fro staff to al ost to ay

o fin out

ore a out S

s re ional tea

isit www.sqa.org.uk/ us ess e e o me t or call

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BRINGING TOGETHER THE WORLDS OF WORK AND STUDY Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh is one of the pioneers of graduate-level apprenticeships, which allow apprentices to gain degrees while working for their employers. Robin Westacott explains the benefits of the new apprenticeships for the companies, the apprentices and the university.

BQ2 Skills Autumn 17 BOOK.indb 19

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W

hen it comes to its relationships with industry, Heriot-Watt University has always had a strong reputation. From working with household names like BP, Shell and Siemens through to its knowledge transfer partnerships with Edinburgh gin-maker Spencerfield Spirit and heat battery developer SunAmp, the academic institution has an enviable record of working successfully with businesses.

Those links between academia and enterprise are poised to become even stronger this autumn when Heriot-Watt launches its first graduate-level apprenticeships (GLAs). The new scheme offers apprentices the chance to gain a bachelor’s-level degree while working for their employer.

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“GLAs are another way of doing a degree, based on learning and experience in the workplace,” explains Robin Westacott, associate professor of chemical engineering at Heriot-Watt University and the lead for its GLA programmes. “They are done over the same timescale as a traditional degree but the majority of the activity and the majority of the assessment is based on tasks carried out in the workplace as part of a job.”

The first three GLAs are designed to tackle pressing skills shortages that have been identified by industry and cover: information technology (IT) management for business; IT software development; and engineering, design and manufacturing. Heriot-Watt has

always been strong in all three areas and Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the Scottish Government’s skills agency, has awarded the university funding to train 25 apprentices in each programme this year.

Looking further ahead, SDS also asked universities to “horizon scan” for a range of additional subjects for 2019 start. Academics will liaise with their partners in the relevant industries to identify other skills shortages or gaps that need to be filled.

“If a company has identified that there is a skills gap within their sector then there’s also a mechanism in place for them or their industry group or trade body to feed that back to SDS,” adds Westacott. “This helps SDS to make sure

“All big employers have to pay the levy and so the GLA programme is a great way for them to get benefit for the new tax they pay.”

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“We work with employers to understand what they need from their apprentices and we look at the skills that the apprentices already have.”

that the GLA programme is helping industry to plug the most pressing shortages.”

The GLA scheme is funded through the apprenticeship levy, a tax introduced in April by the Westminster government and paid by all employers in the UK that have a wage bill of more than £3m a year. The Scottish Government has decided to use the £221m raised by the levy north of the border to support skills, training and employment, including cash for the whole family of apprenticeships, from foundation apprenticeships to modern apprenticeships and GLAs. SDS fully funds the GLAs and so there’s no cost to the apprentice and the employer is only responsible for the apprentice’s salary.

“All big employers have to pay the levy and so the GLA programme is a great way for them to get benefit for the new tax they pay,” Westacott points out.

“Companies have a great opportunity to shape what they need from apprenticeships.

“The interest from employers for the GLA programme has so far been generally good. But it’s a new concept and so not everyone knows about it yet.

“Instead of applying to a university to do a course, the apprentices apply to an employer for a job and then the employer can choose to put them through the GLA programme. It’s very different to traditional students applying through the University & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).”

Ahead of the first year of the GLA scheme, many

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employers have chosen to put existing members of staff onto the programme to help them develop their skills.

In subsequent years, Westacott expects that employers will put a mixture of existing employees and new recruits into the apprenticeships.

Apprentices on the programme will typically spend four days each week working for their employer and will then visit the university’s campus at Riccarton on the edge of Edinburgh for teaching, depending on the subject for their degree. During their time at university, apprentices will work alongside traditional students during some lectures and workshops, but will also have some unique classes with other apprentices.

The strength of the GLA scheme is its flexibility and how it can be tailored to suit employers and their apprentices. Some lessons will take place online and some learning will be via work-based projects.

“We work with employers to understand what they need from their apprentices and we look at the skills that the apprentices already have,” explains Westacott.

“We want apprentices to be able to contribute to their employers’ businesses during the programme, especially during the third and fourth years of their apprenticeship.

“We look at how participants can demonstrate that they have the knowledge and the skills required to gain their degree. For traditional students, that might be through exams or practical assessments or projects in a laboratory.

“We work with companies to figure out what tasks

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apprentices can undertake in the workplace to show that they’ve gained that knowledge or developed the required skills. So, we could devise a project that the participant could undertake in the workplace that would be of benefit to the employer as well as the apprentice.

“During the summer months, when the traditional students aren’t at university, there’s also the opportunity to lay on specific training for the apprentices. This doesn’t eat into the employer’s time if the apprentice is normally away from the workplace for a day a week during term time.

“If an apprentice has been with a company for some time and is now moving into a new role then that extra summer training could come in the form of masterclass on the skills they’ll need for their new post. Or, if an apprentice left school and went straight into work but now finds they need to use more maths in their job, then we can offer them revision of their maths from school or we can teach them further maths to upgrade their skills.”

Westacott doesn’t just see GLAs as a standalone programme. “A lot of work is being done on how we can tie the whole family of apprenticeships together,” he explains.

“There needs to be routes for apprentices who have the talent and the desire to work

BQ2 Skills Autumn 17 BOOK.indb 22

their way from Foundation Apprenticeships to Modern Apprenticeships and GLAs. We need a way to tie those together.

“Also, if someone has completed a modern apprenticeship then we need a way for them to gain advanced entry into a GLA. That could mean they miss-out the first year and enter directly into second year if they have the right experience or it could mean that they receive exemption from certain subjects.

“We need to recognise prior learning and prior experience so that individuals can enter the GLA at the appropriate level. There are always elements of a degree that are flexible – such as school pupils with advanced highers gaining entry into second year for some degrees – so there needs to be that same flexibility in the GLA.” Westacott is no stranger to the links between business and academia. Even back during his undergraduate studies in applied chemistry at Hatfield Polytechnic – now the University of Hertfordshire – he undertook a “sandwich” degree, which involved spending a year working in industry.

After completing his doctorate at the University of Reading and working at King’s College London and the University of Texas at Austin, Westacott joined Heriot-Watt University in 2001 as a lecturer in chemical

engineering. One role he has undertaken is that of admissions tutor, he was responsible for analysing applications from students who had completed higher national certificates (HNCs) and higher national diplomas (HNDs) for advanced entry.

“We also worked with Forth Valley College on transition for further education students,” Westacott says. “We then brought college students to work alongside the university students, which benefited both groups.”

Thanks to the deepening relationship with Forth Valley College, Westacott and Heriot-Watt also teamed up with Ineos – the international chemicals giant that bought the oil refinery and chemicals plant at Grangemouth from BP in 2005 – to launch the “engineers of the future” programme. The first three trainees from Ineos joined the scheme in 2008 and graduated with master’s degrees from the university in 2013.

“In many ways, the engineers of the future programme was a pre-cursor to the GLAs,” says Westacott. “It demonstrated how businesses and academic institutions like colleges and universities could work together.” n Find out more about Heriot-Watt University’s graduate-level apprenticeships at www.hw.ac.uk/gla or by emailing gla@hw.ac.uk

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“There needs to be routes for apprentices who have the talent and the desire to work their way from Foundation Apprenticeships to Modern Apprenticeships and GLAs. We need a way to tie those together”

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BQ2 Skills Autumn 17 BOOK.indb 24

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LIVE DEBATE

THE VOICE FOR BUSINESS DEBATE

The issue: “How can we ensure that the private sector, government and academia pull together to address the skills gap in Scotland, and what do we need to do across our priority sectors to ensure Scotland continues to compete on the world stage?”

Skills are not the sole concern of colleges and universities – they sit at the very heart of all Scottish businesses. Without the right skills for themselves and their staff, entrepreneurs cannot grow their companies.

That’s why skills were the subject of the latest BQ Live debate, which was held at the Blythswood Square Hotel in Glasgow on 24 August. David Lee, a journalist and experienced debate chair, kicked off proceedings by inviting each of the debate’s participants to introduce themselves and to share their initial thoughts.

Robin Westacott, associate professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, explained that he is the programme lead for graduatelevel apprenticeships (GLAs) at the university.

BQ2 Skills Autumn 17 BOOK.indb 25

He pointed out that the private sector, government and academia all used different language and had different bureaucracies, which got in the way of working together. “If we can do something to solve those problems then good things will happen much faster,” he added.

Westacott’s comments on overcoming the use of different language struck a chord with Alasdair Murray, head of food and drink manufacturing recruitment at headhunting firm Eden Scott. He highlighted the need to keep the content of courses up-to-date so they met employers’ requirements and the need for collaboration between the private sector, academia and government.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority’s (SQA’s) director of qualifications, Gill Stewart, said the body worked with industry to make sure its qualifications were as up-to-date as they can be. “It’s important to look at the whole skills pipeline right the way from school through further education, higher education, employment and training,” she said. “If you look at the other European economies that are doing better than Scotland then they put more emphasis on vocational learning during the senior phase of school and the involvement of employers in that area.”

Stewart asked how Scotland could become better at anticipating skills gaps, especially as digital technology triggers the “fourth industrial

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Taking part...

Chris Brodie, lead head for skills, planning and sector development at Skills Development Scotland Paul Campbell, head of learning and organisational development at Scottish Water Craig Jackson, people and organisational development consultant at Scottish Water Lesley Joyce, head of humanities, care and services Alastair McLean, investment director at Rathbone Brothers Colin Murchison, associate dean for business development in the school of engineering and built environment at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) Alasdair Murray, head of food and drink manufacturing recruitment at recruitment firm Eden Scott Polly Purvis, chief executive at digital trade body ScotlandIS and chair of CodeClan, Scotland’s first digital skills academy Anita Simmers, professor of vision science and head of the life sciences department at GCU Gill Stewart, director of qualifications at SQA Carol Turnbull, principal of Dumfries & Galloway College Robin Westacott, associate professor and director for work based programmes at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh Also taking part: David Townsley, group account director, BQ In the chair: David Lee, director, David Lee Media & Events Taking notes: Peter Ranscombe, editor, BQ Scotland magazine Venue: Blythswood Square Hotel, 11 Blythswood Square, Glasgow, G2 4AD

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Scotland will never be a nation filled with innovation if STEM isn’t promoted in schools, along with the right careers advice.”

revolution”. “We need to be much more agile,” she added.

Craig Jackson, people and organisational development consultant at Scottish Water, spoke about the changing demographics of his organisation’s workforce and how he now deals with modern apprenticeships, foundation apprenticeships and the new GLAs. “There’s the potential for a great pipeline of talent that’s got a joined-up way to go from secondary school level all the way through to a master’s degree,” he said. He pointed out that the problem of speaking different languages wasn’t insurmountable and pointed to Scottish Water’s partnership with Clyde College, the Open University and Heriot-Watt.

Anita Simmers, professor of vision science and head of the life sciences department at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), said universities need to work with business to unlock the potential of Scotland’s workforce.

“We need to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) much

more in schools,” she pleaded. “Scotland will never be a nation filled with innovation if STEM isn’t promoted in schools, along with the right careers advice.”

Simmers highlighted the need for more work-based learning, but added that there was still the need for academic training to stoke innovation, alongside apprenticeships.

The lead head for skills, planning and sector development at Skills Development Scotland (SDS), Chris Brodie, pointed out that parents, peers and wider society had an influence when it came to pupils picking subjects, as well as careers advisors. Brodie also raised the issue of Brexit and how it would affect skills shortages in Scotland. He added: “Government policy has quite rightly focused on 16 to 19 year olds, but if Scotland’s major problem is around productivity then that’s going to be solved by what goes on in the workplace.”

Lesley Joyce, head of humanities, care and services at the SQA, said Simmers had hit on an important point regarding STEM.

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“Scotland is a great size for us all to collaborate and share ideas,” she added.

Scottish Water’s head of learning and organisational development, Paul Campbell, echoed Jackson’s optimism and comments about this being a formative time for apprenticeships and for partnerships between businesses, schools, colleges and universities.

“When you look at Scotland’s private sector, 98% of it is made up of small or micro businesses,” he added. “How do you bring those voices to the table?”

Alastair McLean, investment director at Rathbone Brothers, sketched out the characteristics of working in a regulated sector, in which workers need to be trained, qualified and competent to carry out controlled functions. “Taxation in the form of the apprenticeship levy is the right way to influence behaviour,” he added.

McLean asked if, during Brexit, the UK could learn lessons from Japan, which also has an ageing population and needs to cope with low immigration. He also highlighted the case of American fast food chain McDonald’s, the share price of which hit an all-time high after it announced it would automate its food ordering points; while McDonald’s argued it would redeploy staff, critics accused it of avoiding higher costs due to the minimum wage.

Polly Purvis, chief executive at information technology (IT) trade body ScotlandIS and chair of CodeClan, Scotland’s first digital skills academy, explained how her organisation had worked with SDS to create a skills development plan for the sector. “It’s essential to skill our young people, but we also need to reskill our workforce,” she said.

“How do we give everyone digital skills at pace? That’s a huge challenge, so we can’t be on the back foot. Like many other industries sitting around this table, we also have a problem with gender balance and diversity in general.”

As principal of Dumfries & Galloway College, Carol Turnbull explained her passion is lifelong learning. “The focus on 16 to 24 year olds wasn’t wrong at the time because of high youth unemployment, but it came at a cost to businesses in terms of their existing workforce and the reskilling and upskilling that’s required,” she said.

“We need to flip the focus from full-time learning to part-time learning. More young

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people need to go into employment when they leave school and then they come up through apprenticeships, degrees and post-grad and so on, because it needs the combination of both. We have far too many qualifications and they’ve been nuanced to far too great an extent because they’ve taken over what employers should be doing in terms of the nuancing of jobs.”

Colin Murchison, associate dean for business development at GCU’s school of engineering and built environment, wanted to highlighted knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) as one of the most-effective government programmes because it has been running for 40 years. He said small businesses were benefiting as well as larger companies.

He thinks the GLAs will be very effective because he’s found his best students have been mature students, who know why they’ve come to university and are more focused on the task. He acknowledged that encouraging more women to study STEM subjects was still a challenge.

Lee asked Turnbull if young people were being asked to make their subject choices when they were still too young to make those decisions and whether much more of an emphasis should be put on encouraging young people to consider employment with some form of training instead of automatically going on to college or university?

“It’s difficult for young people to make decisions because there are so many qualifications and they don’t always understand the choices,” Turnbull reiterated. “It’s up to industry to sell their industries, it’s not up to SDS, so industries need to get more involved in offering advice and guidance.

“I had loads of jobs before ending up back in further education as a lecturer. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but I had the opportunities to try lots of different things.

We’re pushing young people into making choices earlier and earlier, but they don’t have the breadth of understanding about all the different roles and opportunities.

“Going into a particular sector still allows you to try different things. You could work in human resources (HR) or finance or IT in most industries. It’s about sectors and letting young people understand the plethora of sectors out there.”

Brodie explained that careers advisors tried

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to tell young people about the breadth of sectors open to them. “Young people entering the workforce now will have two or three careers, so our emphasis is on which skills they need,” he said. He pointed out that £1.6bn was invested in the skills system in Scotland – excluding school education – but only £20m was spent on careers advice.

“One of the points Carol raised has real resonance with me – if we’re saying young people aren’t ready to make a careers choice at 16 then we should look at other highlyproductive economies and one thing they have in common is that they have an education system that runs to the age of 18,” he added.

“They have much more work-based learning and their young people can move into higher education from an employment pathway.”

Brodie argued that, over the past 40 years, further and higher education have been held up as the preferred route for young people after school. He said that, in 1976, 72% of young people went into the workplace immediately after school; in 2017, 40% go into higher education and a further 20% into colleges, of

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“Teachers have a huge amount on their workload, but schools are still being driven by exam results”.

which 80% then go on to university.

“This idea that 50% of pupils had to go to university was fatally flawed,” agreed Murchison. “Industries are looking for a range of skills. Sometimes people will develop the desire to study later in life and that’s why we have a lot of returning learners.

“I like the idea of children having access to a wide range of skills and getting to try things out. You learn by your mistakes and learning what you don’t want to do. When I was young, I got taken around a factory making tyres, and I knew that whatever I did in life it wasn’t going to be working in a big, noisy, dirty factory.”

Purvis jumped in to suggest the decisionmaking age was being brought forward to 13 or 14 years old now as an unintended consequence of the introduction of the National 5 exams. “I was educated on both

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sides of the Border and Scotland always had a proud reputation for having an incrediblywide general education and in fact we’re now narrowing it,” she said.

“Teachers have a huge amount on their workload, but schools are still being driven by exam results. Why aren’t we good at STEM in this country? Because maths is seen as hard.

Well, life’s hard so let’s get over it.

“We also need to get schools to start using the same terminology as industry. How is a kid meant to know that biology means life sciences?

“And we need teachers to stop saying to the child who wants to take three science subjects at National 5, ‘That’s difficult – why don’t you pick something easier?’ because that happens time after time.”

Lee then turned to Stewart for the SQA’s

response. She said any narrowing of the curriculum and subject choices wasn’t a feature of the qualifications but instead was a result of the extension of the broad general education for another year from second year into third year, meaning pupils can do fewer qualifications in fourth year. “In my personal opinion, I agree, it may be too soon for some young people to decide on six subjects that may then temporarily limit their career opportunities,” Stewart agreed.

She said it would be good for all qualifications to incorporate some workplace experience. But she acknowledged that it would require more employers to get involved and highlighted McLean’s point about companies being driven by the interest of shareholders.

“Persuading companies to engage in larger societal interests comes back to policy, taxation and regulation,” McLean said. “I don’t want to paint all public limited companies (PLCs) as evil capitalists. If we have league tables for exams results and tell schools that’s what they’ll be judged on then you’ll change that game any way you can to produce that result.”

Dave Townsley, BQ’s group account director, said it was hard for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to take the first step to employ an apprentice because of the investment in both time and money. He then apprentices or graduates were often poached away from SMEs by PLCs. “How can we support those SMEs to attract and retain the right talent?” he asked. “It’s those entrepreneurs who are leading in terms of innovation and driving the economy.”

“It’s a significant challenge,” agreed Campbell.

“It’s harder now because sectoral skills councils have reduced in recent years. To pick up on Alastair’s point, it’s worth asking what role taxation will have to play once automation makes fewer people employed and reduces payroll taxes.”

Lee asked Murray how big a factor retraining or upskilling would be when it comes to recruitment. “It’s the biggest factor or decision any SME or start-up will make,” he replied.

“Once a lot of start-up businesses have got investment, they’re actually looking to recruit people from a PLC background because they need that impact.

“We’ve seen experienced people moving

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to start-ups because they’re sexy, there’s less red tape, you can touch the sides of the organisation and we’re finding that a lot of people in Scotland are excited by that.”

Turnbull said: “There’s a lot of fear in the SME market about taking on employees, particularly surrounding their liabilities. A lot of SMEs don’t have HR staff. There could be a lot more support for businesses in terms of HR advice.

“When the apprenticeship levy was announced, myself and others asked the minister if some of that money could be used to support micro businesses, even though they aren’t paying the levy. That could have been an opportunity to support micro businesses.”

Brodie agreed and pointed out that between 40% and 50% of modern apprentices were working with SMEs, especially in areas such as construction and hairdressing. “Apprenticeships fit quite well with some business models,” he added.

“SMEs are so busy trying to survive that it’s hard to get them to engage,” said Joyce. “SQA works very closely with sector skills councils and trade bodies.”

Simmers thinks that Scotland’s life sciences sector needs a public relations campaign.

“When I was growing up, all we saw on Grampian TV was the oil and gas sector,” she remembered. “But parents have no idea what the life sciences sector is.

“Companies aren’t confident about taking students into their workplace. We need to get over that barrier and show employers that students can be useful. We have a great example with SDS called the Scottish life sciences internship programme – the number of companies signing up to take on interns has grown year-on-year.

“When it comes to life sciences start-ups, everyone is obsessed with their ‘exit strategy’.

What’s happened to growth in Scotland?”

Westacott suggested it was more about listening to one another than talking to one another. Historically, the criticism of universities has been that they ask industry what it wants but then go away and do their own thing, he added.

“Young people are on a conveyor belt that runs from primary one to degree – there’s no getting off except when you’re 18,” he added.

“But there’s no getting off and getting back on again. If someone gets to university and decides after a year that they’ve made the

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wrong choice then they’re stuck. They’re on a conveyor belt and they’ve been funnelled down. We need a roll-on, roll-off approach to education beyond 16 in which people can make mistakes and learn.”

Simmers argued there has been a change with universities. “Our industry groups told us that they wanted our students to learn about good laboratory practice (GLP) and regulations, so we’ve put those in the syllabus,” she said.

“We can move quickly because we’re small.”

The CodeClan digital skills academy is another example of moving quickly to respond to the needs of industry. Lee asked Purvis to explain more about the scheme.

“In 2014, we had a shortage of around 11,000 people per year in our industry and, at best, we turn out 4,000 graduates per year as possible candidates, but half of them go down south,” she responded. “We wanted to find a different way into the industry for people – CodeClan is there to teach computer coding to people who have no previous experience, allowing them to swap careers.

“We only take people with higher national diplomas (HNDs) or first degrees or prior work experience. We’re not looking for 18 year olds and we’re not competing with colleges and universities. The average age is 31.”

Purvis said the SDS approached ScotlandIS at Christmas 2013 and asked if Code Clan could be launched the following September. Students now undertake a 16-week intensive course, with teaching from 9am to 5pm plus personal study in the evening.

She praised the SQA for accrediting the course so quickly. So far, 300 students have passed through the academy, which has branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh and is in talks to open in Aberdeen and Inverness.

“It won’t suit everybody and it’s not an alternative to going to college or university or undertaking an apprenticeship or anything else – it’s just another option,” she added.

Brodie said it shouldn’t be underestimated how difficult it was to create something new such as CodeClan. “The skills system needs to change to allow that can of agility to happen more easily,” he added.

“This is an example of something that’s demand-led,” Stewart said. “It’s about getting the right partners and players. When we work internationally, we have a contract that says the client wants qualifications delivered within a set timeframe and so we line up the resources

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“Young people are on a conveyor belt that runs from primary one to degree – there’s no getting off except when you’re 18.”

to do that.”

Purvis said: “90% of our students have jobs within six months and 70% of them have jobs within three months. Employers like the model even though, at first, they said ‘Whoa, what’s this, we’re used to taking people with first degrees?’.

“Many people come into the course with domain expertise in other areas so they bring skills with them onto the course. If you’re in financial services then you want someone with digital skills who understands the environment.”

Lee asked: “Can anyone else around the table see other industries that could benefit from a CodeClan-style programme?”

“Within food and drink, the technical areas of food science and engineering are the two areas that industry struggles with,” suggested Murray. “In food and drink, we’re finding the industry is innovating. It’s been behind the times compared to aerospace or automotive, but now people are bringing in robotics and automation, which require a different skillset.

People already in the industry may lose their jobs to robotics, so they’ll need retraining.”

“Food is a real issue for me because it’s not seen as an attractive area to move into,” agreed Simmers. “Traditionally, universities would offer a master’s degree in these areas, but perhaps some form of hot-housing type course may be suitable.”

Murray said part of the problem with recruiting people for the food and drink industry was that they needed to have a science background. Simmers suggested there was an argument for offering more general science training at an early stage and then letting student decide later in which areas they wanted to specialise, such as energy or food and drink, rather than training as a microbiologist from day one.

Scottish Water has recently moved its science graduate programme back to covering

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general science, Campbell revealed. “Graduates will move around the specialisms within our organisation before decisions are made on what they’ll do,” he said.

Lee asked Stewart if the CodeClan experience had made it easier for qualifications to be introduced more quickly? “The development of qualifications needs to be more agile and responsive to what’s going on,” she replied. “SQA works with individual companies and sometimes they want bespoke qualifications within two or three months.”

Brodie added: “The reason we were taken with CodeClan was that it covers an industry in which the skills requirements are changing quickly and there was an undebatable need for people to enter the sector. The other aspect was the financial return for people going into

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“Competition is good because it drives us, but it does create a barrier to get over when we want to work together.”

the industry and that helped to underpin the case for it – if you invest in yourself then you’ll get your money back within two or three years.”

CodeClan is now looking at not only getting more women into the computing industry, but also how to get more women to re-enter the industry after having career breaks to start their families, Purvis said. “Colleges and universities between them could find new ways of delivering their content so people can take it up as they need it,” she added. “It’s not just about distance learning because that doesn’t suit everyone.”

Murchison responded: “Universities are all in competition, which is good and bad, because we’re encouraged to bid for researching funding together, but we compete against each other to fill places. The way we’re funded definitely has an impact on how we operate.”

Heriot-Watt and GCU are already working together on GLAs, Westacott explained.

“Competition is good because it drives us, but it does create a barrier to get over when we want to work together,” he added. “What we can do with GLAs is share resources and share venues.”

Lee asked Purvis about the need for core digital skills and Purvis pointed to the loss of computer science teachers in schools and the difficulties in keeping the remaining teachers up-to-date with developments. “In California, all pupils are being taught to code, many by volunteers from industry,” she said. “Accrediting people from industry to do extra-curricular teaching is possible.”

Campbell said the reverse was also true about taking teachers out into industry to refresh their skills. Simmers pointed to the example of clinical academics coming to universities from hospitals to teach part of the health programmes.

Jackson outlined how Scottish Water was using engineers from within its business to train its apprentices through its skills academies.

Campbell questioned whether young people were all “digital natives” who could automatically use digital technology; while

they may be good at using social media and mobile devices, he felt they lacked skills around managing data.

Purvis agreed, pointing to socioeconomically-excluded groups who may not have access to computers or smartphones.

Turnbull asked if there was a role for the BBC or other media organisations to play in furthering digital skills.

Turnbull went on to give examples of good work between academia and industry, including Dumfries & Galloway College and Ayr College working with the SQA on a wind turbine technician course and on an overhead power lines technicians course with one of Scottish Power’s contractors. Another example came in the care sector, where the college worked with Dumfries & Galloway College and its local health board on a programme called “Reenablement”, to help people in their homes.

Joyce praised the speed with which such courses had been put in place. She highlighted how the SQA’s skills for work courses had highlighted how many common skills were needed for areas as diverse as engineering and hairdressing.

The Energy Skills Partnership, which involves further education colleges and industry, was highlighted by Purvis as another example of collaboration, including the development of common courses. A similar process is now being launched for computer science, involving colleges and universities developing common content.

Brodie welcomed the consensus around the table around responsiveness. “There’s an envy down south of how well the public sector in Scotland engages with employers,” he added.

“We’re a small country so we should be able to have these conversations and move things forward.”

Lee brought the debate to a close by asking the participants for their thoughts on the introduction of GLAs. Westacott said they had “huge potential”, while Stewart suggested GLAs might appeal to SMEs more if they could be “chunked” into smaller pieces that might be more manageable. n

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Accredited degrees available in 2018

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Building confidence Glasgow Caledonian University is not only working with industry to shape the content of its life sciences courses, but is also giving its students access to plenty of practical and work-based learning, as Anita Simmers explains.

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he life sciences sector is one of Scotland’s hidden gems. More than 37,000 people are already employed by some 700 organisations, which together turn over in excess of £4.2bn and add £2bn of gross value to our nation’s economy.

Ambitious plans were unveiled earlier this year [2017] to double the industry’s turnover to £8bn by 2025, building on the 29% increase already posted between 2010 and 2014. The financial figures are only half the story though – life sciences also have a much wider impact on society, developing the drugs and medical devices of the future, as well as innovating in fields such as agriculture and aquaculture.

Anita Simmers, professor of vision science and head of the life sciences department at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), wants

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parents, teachers and the wider public to have a better idea of what the life sciences are and what’s involved with a career in the industry. “When the majority of our students arrive at the university, they have very little understanding of life sciences,” she explains.

“Traditionally, they’ve been good at biology or chemistry at school and have chosen to go to university without really understanding what a career in the life sciences actually involves.

We ask pupils to make their subject choices so early at school, but we don’t fully explore what those subject choices could mean for their subsequent career paths.”

Once those students arrive at GCU though, they’re quickly given a real insight into the meaning of a career in the life sciences. “Life sciences is a complex arena and there are many

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“Even when I was working in a clinical environment, I could see the gulf between my academic studies and their application in clinical practice.”

different routes you can take during your career,” explains Simmers.

“During the first year of the four-year degree programme, early-career graduates from all sectors of life sciences engage with our students on a regular basis. They can inspire our students by telling them about what they did with their degrees and what jobs they got once they left university.

“Once students start to specialise in third and fourth year, we bring in industry specialists is areas such as microbiology, cell and molecular biology and pharmacology. This career track employability initiative runs through all four years of our programme.”

Along with colleagues at Glasgow and Strathclyde universities, GCU also runs Glasgow Economic Leadership Forum (GELF)

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masterclasses for fourth-year students. During the sessions, chief executives and other senior figures from life sciences companies come into the universities to speak to students about topics such as regulatory compliance, adding to their real-world experience.

GCU also uses its students’ fourth-year honours projects as a way of interacting with industry. All students carry out practical or “wet room” projects in the laboratory rather than dissertations, adding to the portfolio of practical skills that they can offer to potential employers.

Those projects are then put on display as posters and companies are invited along to see the results. The exercise not only helps finalyear students to practice their practical skills in the laboratory, but also helps them to hone

their “soft” skills, such as report writing and public speaking.

“When students come to us, many of them lack confidence,” Simmers points out.

“I don’t know why, but we as Scots have lost confidence in our own abilities, especially when it comes to technical proficiency in the sciences. During the Enlightenment, Scots were the leading minds in every field – I don’t know what’s happened since then.

“The world of work is a hard place now, so I want our students to have the technical skills they need but also the soft skills they need to succeed. Employers are always looking for that broader range of skills.”

Simmers’ passion for her students and their futures always shines through in each and every conversation with her. “Neither of my parents

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“Even when I was working in a clinical environment, I could see the gulf between my academic studies and their application in clinical practice.”

were academics and I was the first member of my family to go to college and then later on to university,” she explains.

After graduating with a degree in orthoptics in 1990, Simmers went to work in clinical practice, helping patients with eye problems as part of an ophthalmic team. She returned to university to complete a master’s degree in public health and community medicine at the University of Glasgow in 1993 and then joined GCU to undertake her doctoral studies, which she completed in 1997. Subsequently gaining a wealth of postdoctoral research experience in clinical and behavioural neuroscience both nationally and internationally.

“Even when I was working in a clinical environment, I could see the gulf between my academic studies and their application in clinical practice,” she explains. “I think I was instinctively drawn back into research and ultimately academia so that I could help students see the relevance, inspire and engage them to give them the best possible chance of finding a job when they graduated.

“Some of my students may not go on to work in the life sciences industry, but I still want them to succeed. If they’re confident then it also improves social mobility, which is really important for Scotland’s future.

“We want a generation that grasp at opportunities. Skills is one aspect, but as well as skills we should be giving students the desire for social mobility, the desire for continual learning, the desire to keep moving.

“You may have two or three careers in your lifetime. We have lots of untapped potential out there in the workforce and I hope that universities and industry can work together to unlock that potential.””

One of the crown jewels in helping students find work is the Scottish Life Sciences Internship Programme, which finds placements for first-, second- and third-year students. The scheme is run by ScotGrad, a programme operated by Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise, alongside the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

The programme was expanded from 17 places to 40 in response to demand from employers. Around 500 people from throughout Scotland applied for the 40 spaces, highlighting the popularity of the 10- to 12-week placements among students too.

GCU is also piloting a mentorship scheme with its food bioscience students, during which they are mentored by

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someone from industry. “I’d like to see internships and mentoring extended beyond life sciences into other areas too,” adds Simmers.

“One of the issues we face though is finding businesses that want to take interns or students on placements. A lot of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take part in our industry employer engagement forums, which is great, but there is not a bottomless pit of opportunities available, these SMEs need support from government.

“It would be great to see more larger companies getting involved. Bigger businesses

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“It would be great to see more larger companies getting involved. Bigger businesses could perhaps take 10 students at a time, which again would create more opportunities.”

could perhaps take 10 students at a time, which again would create more opportunities.”

Simmers also points to the work going on by her colleague Colin Murchison – associate dean for business development in GCU’s school of engineering and built environment – who is collaborating with Heriot-Watt University in

Edinburgh and Forth Valley College to deliver graduate-level apprenticeships (GLAs), with students spending time at each of the three institutions during their four years of training, depending on their specialisms.

“It’s important for universities to find new ways of working together like this,” she says.

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“Scotland is the perfect size for collaborations such as these.

“Filling the skills gap also involves a cultural change. Parents need to see apprenticeships as a viable alternative. Going to college isn’t a bad thing. A university education isn’t for everybody. We need to stop this hierarchical nature of employers asking, ‘Which university did you go to?’ or ‘Which degree did you get?’.

“We can only do that by people working together. There is overlap between institutions, but I think we each have our specialisms and there’s room for us all to grow. It’s about being agile.

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“The school curriculum is so jam-packed.

I want to get more involved with schools so that we have industry coming in to run afterschool clubs that offer science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), as well as those for drama or arts and crafts. Innovation will only come from STEM – end of story.”

While Simmers is a vocal advocate for the need for work-based learning and very practical courses at universities, she doesn’t advocate abandoning academic studies. She thinks it’s important that universities don’t go down the route of offering only part-time courses.

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“You need academic research because that’s where innovation comes from,” she explains. “That’s why we call it research and development – you need both.

“It’s important to teach students the practical skills that they will need to find a job when they graduate. But it’s also important that we train the next generation of leaders, the people who will not just know how to carry out today’s technical tasks but will also be able to innovate and invent the techniques of tomorrow.

“Scotland needs people who innovate. We don’t want to dilute a university experience.” n

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h t u o s e h t n i Carol Turnbull, principal at Dumfries & Galloway College, takes BQ Scotland behind-the-scenes to demonstrate how her institution is working with industry to train the next generation of workers.

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“The company met with the trainees every fortnight. I think that was the key to the success – the company was involved right from the start.”

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t’s not unusual for further education colleges to have their own catering kitchens and hair-dressing salons from which their students can practice offering the public tasty food and a short back-and-sides. Dumfries & Galloway College has gone a step further though.

The institution has erected electricity distribution grid poles in its grounds and even has a mini wind turbine to help prepare its students for careers in the renewable energy and wider power industry. The unusual pieces of apparatus outside the buildings are just two of the examples of how the college is interacting with businesses to help provide the skilled workers that they need.

“The overhead lines technician programme came about because we were approached by a contractor that had been appointed

by Scottish Power to deliver in the area and which recognised that it had a skills shortage,” explains Carol Turnbull, principal at Dumfries & Galloway College. “We invited the contractor to come in and talk to us and, over time, we developed a partnership with Scottish Power Energy Network (SPEN), with the CIET – which was the name of the contractor at the time – the Energy Skills Partnership and Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

“Between us, we developed an intensive 12-week programme that involved learning in college and being outside. We put up telegraph poles so they could do the field work as well.

“Scottish Power provided a trainer for the fieldwork to teach the students how to climb the poles. They covered the practical elements and we covered the theory elements.

“Over a period of time, we developed that into a qualification that also included some of the on-site training as well, so it would be possible for the students to get a full on-site certificate. We also helped to train some of the company staff so they became on-site assessors.

“That expanded into working with other contractors that were appointed by Scottish Power Energy Networks too. Recently, we’ve been working with SPIE contractors.”

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At the time, SDS ran an energy skills fund, which supported some of the costs of delivering the course. If participants gave up a job to go on the course then the fund was able to give them some support.

“That was one of the biggest problems we had,” Turnbull remembers. “They wanted people who were qualified to a certain level and a lot of people were attracted to the industry because of the salary, but it meant them giving up a current job and there could potentially be 12 weeks during which they wouldn’t be employed.

“We got some funding towards that for a couple of years and, although they weren’t guaranteed a job at the end of it, they were guaranteed an interview. The company was part of the recruitment and selection process right from the word go, so if participants completed the course successfully then they had a very strong chance of getting a job at the end of it.

“The company met with the trainees every fortnight. I think that was the key to the

success – the company was involved right from the start, designing the course, selecting the students, providing ongoing monitoring and feedback, and then the trainees were taken on at the end of it.”

Turnbull thinks that the process that was used to create the course could be replicated for other industries. The overhead lines technician programme isn’t the only interaction the college has had with the power sector either.

The college developed a wind turbine technician course with Ayr College and the Energy Skills Partnership, a collaboration between 23 Scottish further education colleges and players from industry. “Again, that course was developed with industry and we were given a small-scale wind turbine on which students could work,” Turnbull says.

“That was developed as a full-time course and that’s the way we deliver it now. The successful achievers from the course tend to go into jobs quite easily.”

The college’s close links with businesses

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“Some learners want part-time, some want full-time, some come with the prior learning but not the qualifications. The system has to be flexible and adaptable to suit all kinds of learners, and also needs to suit employers’ needs as well.”

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extend far beyond the power industry. The institution worked with Dumfries & Galloway Council and NHS Dumfries & Galloway to develop a course for the care sector.

“It’s an upskilling course that gives care workers the skills to support people to become more able again in their own homes – hence the title ‘Re-enablement’,” Turnbull explains.

“That was developed for a local market but we took it through accreditation by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and that’s now been rolled out across the whole of Scotland.

“It’s very satisfying when that happens. It’s nice for a small college like us to be the first to deliver a course but it also feels good to know that we’re supporting local employers and students to get employment, which is what we’re all about.”

Dumfries & Galloway College is the secondsmallest further education institution in Scotland, with around 1,500 full-time students, most of whom are based in Dumfries, with some 230 studying at the Stranraer campus.

The college also has a further 4,000 parttime learners, highlighting its commitment to offering local people the chance to study in a way that suits the rest of their lives, fitting in with their jobs or family obligations.

The part-time students take a broad range of courses, from half a day each week through to online courses, for which they never physically visit the college. The open-learning courses are used by people based both outside and within the local area, including inmates at the local prison.

The college’s work with industry takes many forms. It invites employers to join advisory boards in its different curriculum areas, which involves companies becoming engaged in the design of courses to make sure they fit their needs and also going into the college to deliver guest talks or inviting students out to their premises for site visits or work placements.

If companies want to recruit people into their area then the college can also offer help.

Work placements offer the opportunity to “try before you buy” and are becoming increasingly popular with employers.

Turnbull encourages other businesses to get in touch with her, whether it’s to become involved in designing courses, recruiting

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students or sharing their experience with staff and with students. “Just pick up the phone,” she says. “Come and talk to me.”

The principal herself has personal experience of the benefits that a college education can bring. Her career has turned her into a strong advocate for further education.

“My father was in the army and we had been living in England,” she recalls. “He got posted up to Longtown in Cumbria just as I was 16 and getting ready to go to sixth-form college.

“They decided to buy a house in Dumfries and I moved up with them. I couldn’t understand the Scottish education system at all so I decided to leave school and go to work.

“I had loads of jobs. I ran a small hotel out in the country – I had no experience, by the way – I was a gym instructor for a while, I started doing a nursing course, but didn’t quite finish it.

I was just one of these people who didn’t know what I wanted to do and just drifted around.

“After I turned 20, I decided I should go and get some qualifications so I went to Dumfries & Galloway College and did a higher national diploma (HND) in business and then went out and worked in the dairy industry, before coming back as a lecturer, completing a master’s degree in management studies, doing various jobs in the college and then five years ago ending up as principal.

“I am absolutely a product of further education and Dumfries & Galloway is my

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passion. I know the people, I know the area, I know the businesses and I totally believe in further education and that it can deliver so much for people – definitely second chances, if you want to call them that, but also I believe it’s a real alternative to university because of the vocational aspects of it.”

Turnbull wants to see more work-based learning involved in skills training. She also believes flexibility is key.

“Some learners want part-time, some want fulltime, some come with the prior learning but not the qualifications,” she points out. “The system has to be flexible and adaptable to suit all kinds of learners, and also needs to suit employers’ needs as well.

“Dumfries and Galloway has a lot of positive aspects as a region – the tourism industry is growing and the energy sector is an important emerging economic factor – however, it currently has a low-wage economy and there are pockets of rural deprivation. Our members of staff at the college want to make a difference to our area. They care about their students.

“We are the only college in the region and so we’re a key player. I’m very conscious that we need to work through partnerships and collaborations and that’s something that I enjoy doing. Whether it’s with the employers or the schools or the universities, it’s all about partnership working.” n

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WATER GOES

HI-TECH Paul Campbell, head of learning and organisational development at Scottish Water, explains why the publicly-owned company isn’t only focused on engineers – but also on how digital technology could revolutionise his industry.

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t first sight, few substances appear as low-tech as water. It’s the liquid that falls from the sky, that collects in lochs, that keeps us all alive.

Yet Scottish Water is turning the wet stuff hi-tech. As part of its mission to deliver 1.37 billion litres of clean drinking water every day and take away 921 million litres of waste water, the publicly-owned company is harnessing not only the latest innovations in engineering, but is also looking at the ways digital technology can transform its business.

The organisation is looking at how it can analyse “big data” to better manage the 30,124 miles of water pipes and 31,814 of sewer pipes that connect 2.5 million houses and 156,000 businesses to more than 2,000 treatment assets across Scotland, covering an area of 30,810 square miles.

Already, there’s far more to Scottish Water than copper or plastic pipes.

At the heart of making sure Scottish Water has the right skills to handle these technological advances is Paul Campbell, the company’s head of learning and organisational development. Campbell and his team make sure that the business’ 4,000 employees have the skills that they need to service its five million customers.

“We’re always trying to be proactive and on the front foot,” he explains.

“It’s about trying to anticipate where the gaps and shortages might be in the future.

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“More and more, scientific skills, digital skills, technological skills are becoming evermore important because everything is becoming increasingly digitised and technology is beginning to permeate through everything”

“Skills gaps are quite specific – they’re at an individual level – while skills shortages tend to be at an organisational or industry-wide level.

There will be certain areas where it might be difficult to find people if you’re recruiting in the market, but generally for us it’s more about the direction of travel, what we anticipate will happen in the future and what type of skills we think we’re going to need. Then it’s about putting in place the people, systems and structures to build these.

“Technical skills are becoming ever more important. They are anyway for us as a highly-technical organisation, given the nature of what we do with water supplies and waste water treatment and protecting the environment.

“More and more, scientific skills, digital skills, technological skills are becoming ever-more important because everything is becoming increasingly digitised and technology is beginning to permeate through everything.

Digital skills in particular for employees at all levels are becoming increasingly important – we’ve got a team of our graduates working on this at the moment, to work out where some of the gaps and shortages might be so we can plan more effectively for what we have to do.

“We’re looking at data science, data analytics and information management. Clearly, we’re no different from any organisation that wants to have that insight, so that’s an area we’ve been developing in recent years.”

Campbell highlights how society is

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becoming increasingly complex, with more information flowing more readily, and points to the needs to have the right skills to cope with that complexity. Scenario planning and thinking about what the future holds is becoming evermore important.

“We need people with analytical and problem-solving skills,” he explains. “We also need leaders and managers to be able to support and lead their employees in an increasingly digitised environment, energising, enabling and engaging their teams.

“In the past, the work environment was much more face-to-face, whereas now it’s becoming much more virtual. Our leaders need skills that allow them to be productive and effective across increasingly dispersed networks of people.

“This isn’t just about using technology it’s also about the softer areas, like emotional intelligence. It’s not as easy to read someone’s body language or gauge their tone of voice when interactions are happening virtually.

These days we are looking for our leaders to have intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ) and digital intelligence (DQ).

“Scottish Water is already using information technology (IT) to break down geographic barriers, adopting agile forms of working so its employees can work from home and from agile hubs across Scotland, something that is highly valued by its employees, although there are elements of some roles where this doesn’t fit so well,” Campbell points out.

“For some roles, engineers have to be out in the field, visiting a treatment works or fixing a pipe in the ground. But, in general, technology is overcoming some of the challenges associated with geography. For us, the future is all about building the capacity for people and technology to work together in order to adapt to a new and exciting future.”

The company covers a third of Great Britain’s landmass. It has water and waste treatment works and workers spread all along our nation’s 6,800 miles of coastline.

“Aberdeen used to be an area in which it was tricky to recruit engineers,” Campbell remembers. “The oil and gas industry could always pay them more.

“Those pressures have eased in recent years following the fall in the oil price. It can sometimes be a challenge to recruit engineers to work on the islands, like Orkney and Shetland or the more remote islands in the Western Isles.”

One of Scottish Water’s most-impressive methods for dealing with any skills gaps is through its internal skills academies. “Our skills academies are designed to blend and harness ‘wisdom and youth’,” Campbell explains.

“Our workforce has a lot of experience and wisdom, but the average age has been rising over time. At the same time, we have a lot of apprentices joining us in a broad range of areas.

“Our skills academies take experienced engineers out of the field to work in the learning and talent development team. We

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“This isn’t just about using technology it’s also about the softer areas, like emotional intelligence.

It’s not as easy to read someone’s body language or gauge their tone of voice when interactions are happening virtually”

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give them the skills they need to become trainers and educators, so they can teach other people in the business.

“They pass on their experience and knowledge and wisdom. They don’t just take people on a training course – they also then go out with them into the field to observe them in practice, so they can see that they’ve learned the skills and that they’re applying the knowledge that they were taught on the course.

“It’s about filling those skills gaps on an individual basis. They work with individuals on a very detailed level.

“We can also use the skills academies to test innovations as well. If there are new pieces of technology or new ideas then we can put them to the test.”

Campbell knows the benefits of apprenticeship schemes first-hand. He undertook his own apprenticeship with Strathclyde Water back in 1993-7 at the same time as studying for first his City & Guilds

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qualifications and then a higher national certificate (HNC) in water operations with management at Cardonald College in Glasgow.

After control of water shifted from the old regional councils to three water authorities, Campbell switched to a training role with West of Scotland Water. After the three authorities were merged to create Scottish Water, he continued in organisational development and talent development positions, progressing through the ranks, completing a master of science degree in learning and development and going on to become the head of learning and organisational development.

Scottish Water doesn’t work in isolation when it comes to skills. The organisation works with numerous partners including Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and is one of the active members of its collaboration groups, forums and networking groups and it has also participated in the Energy and Utilities Workforce Renewal and Skills Strategy: 2020 with Energy & Utility Skills.

The company also makes full use of the entire family of apprenticeships, from Foundation Apprenticeships through Modern Apprenticeships and on to the new GraduateLevel Apprenticeships (GLAs).

“We work very closely with higher and further education institutions,” adds Campbell.

“We’ve created learning pathways, so people can gain qualifications from entry level all the way through to a master’s degree.

“Clyde College is our partner for entry-level qualifications and HNCs. We’ve then worked with the Open University to bridge from the entry level and HNC through to degree level and with Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh to link this pathway for water and wastewater management all the way through to its master’s degree programme, something that supports the ambition for Scotland to become a ‘Hydro Nation’.”

Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) – the Scottish Government’s seven-year skills strategy, which was launched in 2014 – is also a

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key focus for Scottish Water. The programme was created in response to the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, which was led by Sir Iain Wood, the former chief executive and later chairman of energy services giant Wood Group.

Scottish Water has been heavily involved in the regional DYW group in Glasgow, where it has worked with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, creating partnerships with schools. “In the past, businesses would have complained that schools don’t give pupils the skills they need, but there’s much more of a realisation now that the only way schools will develop the skills that businesses need is if businesses actively work with schools and

“

young people while they’re there,” Campbell explains.

“We have a formal partnership with St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Secondary School in Glasgow – which was set up through the regional DYW group – and we’ve been working with them for a couple of years now. We have also been working closely with four other high schools along the route of our on-going Shieldhall tunnel project, which is our flagship engineering project, representing £100m of investment within an overall £250m investment in waste water infrastructure across Greater Glasgow. We’ve done some quite specialist, detailed work with the young people that we wouldn’t have had the chance to do if we were

just popping in to give a talk.

“Our female graduates and apprentices have been going into St Andrew’s to engage with female pupils in second year before they make their subject choices. That’s encouraged more girls to study the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

“We’re getting good results and feedback from that. We hope that some of those pupils will go on to study science and engineering and may eventually come to work with us – but, even if they don’t, hopefully we’ve given them a good impression of our organisation and the vital role we play in Scottish society and we hope they’ll become advocates for us in the future.” n

“There’s much more of a realisation now that the only way schools will develop the skills that businesses need is if businesses actively work with schools and young people while they’re there,”

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