Birmingham City Fights Skills Shortage With £10m Investment

Birmingham City University has invested £10m to address the shortage of young people studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

The educational institution claims that the STEM industry faces a shortfall of 80,000 skilled workers within the next two years and intends for its investment to increase capacity for teaching in these areas.

The funding will see the development of new facilities at the University, such as new laboratories for scientific and technological practice and research.

“This investment shows our University’s determination to take serious action to ensure we are delivering exactly the education our young people, as well as the regional and national economy, needs,” claimed Birmingham City Vice-Chancellor Professor Cliff Allan.

“Our University already has a long history of teaching science, technology and engineering and is a powerful established force in contributing to the creative industries that make a multi-billion contribution to the UK economy,” he added.

The cash injection funding follows the University’s success in bidding for the £5m grant for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), confirmed in the Autumn Statement earlier this month.

“We very much appreciate the £5m HEFCE grant, investment that will allow us to deepen what we do now and develop new areas of expertise, delivering in turn a real boost to the education and training needs of our economy,” Professor Allan added.

Industry Bodies Urge Action

Semta, the skills country for science, engineering and manufacturing technologies has warned that immediate actions must be taken to increase high level STEM education level for teenagers to avoid a shortfall in skills.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has also asked the government to slash tuition feeds for some STEM courses.

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