Continued from page 19
Sandwich degree course schemes are thriving, up from 113,795 placements in 2009/10 to 153,535 in 2014/15. Aston University has set a target of 100% industrial placements for its students by 2020; other universities have similar objectives. A structured twelve month industrial placement between the second and third years of a degree course is mutually beneficial both to student and employer. Students often use a company development issue as their final year project, working in conjunction with their placement company. The industrial year changes the students to be mature, competent and diligent. Whilst students who have taken a sandwich year have a significant advantage over non-sandwich year graduates in gaining employment, around one-third of placement students return to their sandwich employer on graduation; placement can be an extended interview for both sides! The effect of industrial training can be further enhanced by a previous summer internship at the end of the first year, possibly leading to a sandwich placement a year later.
Beyond graduate employment, there is still need to raise Employability further through professional development, specialised, MSc courses appropriate to the company and the employee’s work. ‘e-learning’ courses prepare existing and new graduates for the advanced work of their employer’s field rather than picking up relevant knowledge selectively and incompletely ‘on the job’. Further study is required for a BEng graduate to become a Chartered Engineer. For their own technical development interest, lubricant companies should encourage their staff to achieve Chartered Status of the relevant Institution, whether it is CEng or CSci/CChem or CPhys.
The Higher Apprentice Degree scheme is rapidly developing and almost all major technical industrial, engineering employers are participating. Employers will soon have a 0.5% payroll levy for the Government Apprenticeship Scheme and they can recoup part by participating in the scheme. Higher Apprentice Degree schemes are offered by an increasing number of universities and colleges; it takes five years, one day/week for around 30 weeks/year, leading to an Associate degree at year 3 and a full Honours BEng/BSc degree in five years. The main emphasis is on engineering disciplines. Young people increasingly see Higher Apprentice Degrees as desirable, employed, alternatives to fulltime student courses. The comparison is straightforward – five years employment and industrial experience, graduation at say, 23, in a relevant Honours degree, free of debt, to build on an established career. Against that is graduation from a full time course at 21, no industrial experience, a minimum of £29,000 debt, a job to secure and a career to establish.
Employers find that with careful recruitment, Higher Apprentice Degree students readily manage and balance the demands of hi-tech industrial life and those of their course. They make good progress in their company and contribute to its development whilst taking their degree course at the same time. Their abilities and experience become increasingly valuable to the company as their course progresses, balancing that with the demands of their course. Frequent instances occur of the Higher Apprentice degree students taking their coursework with them on company visits to Europe, North America and China; their university understands these demands and arranges academic work accordingly. For those with longer memories, the Higher Apprentice Degree may seem similar to the part-time routes of HNC/Pt.III to Membership of the Engineering Institution or the HNC/GRIC Pt.11 to MRSC.
Lubricant companies can increase Employability and industrial skills in several ways, for their benefit and for their employees.
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The industrial sandwich year is well known; contact with local university departments will bring a positive response, of mutual benefit in a relatively short timescale. It should be part of building a relationship with a university department, of general value, but also for specialised testing and discussion flowing both ways. The Higher Apprentice Degree has a longer timescale, but not yet offered uniformly across the UK. The experience of universities which do offer these degrees is that students travel considerable distances to attend them; the range and variety of their employments is a stimulating part of their course.
It is of national industrial importance to close the skills gap and meet employer’s needs through raising the Employability of graduates and existing staff. Higher Degree Apprenticeships, sandwich placements and postgraduate developments are particularly appropriate for the lubricant industry to maintain its innovative, hi-tech leadership. Government policy and investment in improving Employability over the past five years is working; it will continue to put more pressure on employability services and employers to raise skills, reduce the gap with other industrial countries and improve industrial productivity. The UK lubricant industry can play a leading role through working with universities and colleges to maintain its technological edge.
1. ‘Investing in Strategies to Increase Graduate Employability’, Nicola Turner, Conference on Increasing Graduate Employability and Employment’, Inside Government’, 19th May 2016.
LINKS
m.fox@
bradford.ac.uk malcolm.fox@
nylacast.com
LUBE MAGAZINE NO.136 DECEMBER 2016
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