D&T and Engineering Workshop Supplement
BAKER’S CRUSADE TO HELP STEMTHE
SHORTAGE OF ENGINEERSWITH UNIVERSITY TECHNICAL COLLEGES TAKES HOLD
THE COalITIOn is hoping that Britain will enjoy an export boom in manufacturing to help the country pull itself out of the financialmess left by what was called the credit crunch. Certainly, the coalition’s hope, if not the plan, is the country will
have a more balanced economy – not to be solely reliant on the success of the financial sector which was until recent days the dominant engine of growth. At last, the penny has dropped –
that unless you make things you’re unlikely to make real money. One of the main reasons China is now
now an economic superpower, sitting on enormous financial surpluses, is its manufacturing capability. During its apogee of empire,
Britain was the workshop of the world, taking raw materials from around the world and turning out manufactured goods to a product- hungry world. Amajor stumbling block to
Britain’s manufacturing renaissance is the dearth of young people with the right qualifications to fill the vacancies that exist in the engineering and manufacturing sector. The generation that served an apprenticeship went to local technical colleges in the evenings has retired and engineering and manufacturing companies are struggling to find replacements. One man who is determined to
reverse the trend is Kenneth Baker, now Baron Baker of Dorking, known in education for the introduction of inset training for teachers – ‘Baker Days’ – during his tenure as secretary of state for education and science underMargaret Thatcher. He, together with the now
deceased Lord Ron Dearing (famous for the ‘Dearing Report into Higher Education’), set up the Baker Dearing Educational Trust with the aim of setting up a chain of university technical colleges across the country. Anew concept in education,
University Technical College (UTC) offers 14–19 year-olds the opportunity take full-time, technically-orientated courses of study.
Technology in Education No.180 January/February 2011 18 They specialise in subjects that
require technical and modern equipment, for example engineering, product design, health sciences, construction, and land and environmental services. Already nine UTCs are in
being.Afundamental principle of the UTCs, is that they do not judge students on past performance. Students are given new opportunities and new ways of learning which allow them to achieve to a higher level than they may have done before. Sponsored by a university, the
UTC offers clear progression routes into higher education or further learning in work. Students combine hand and
mind to learn in a very practical way, integrating national curriculum requirements with technical and vocational elements. For those UTCs supported by
local manufacturing and engineering employers, the workshop will be the very heart of the college.
On the following editorial
pages, Technology in Education looks at a few of a number of companies which provide the complete educational workshop service. Firms such as Excel, HME, RK International, Technology Supplies, TechSoft andWarco can help you design, install and maintain themodern educational workshop and engineering training centre.
Check out our website:
www.technology-in-education.co.uk
Circle No.A12
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