The UK’s technical education and training system is lacking tutors with up-to-date skills needed to meet the needs of industry. Recent reports by both WorldSkills UK and the Manufacturing Commission have reported skills shortages in Further Education and a lack of effective collaboration to remedy this.

One option to alleviate this shortage is to facilitate a two-way exchange between FE colleges and industry. This would help to upskill existing teaching staff and bring in industry experts to provide specialist technical training for students. In 2021, the Department for Education announced the introduction of such a scheme - the Workforce Industry Exchange Programme (WIEP), which was funded as part of a £65 million investment in the FE workforce. However, the WIEP is yet to be rolled out.

The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the benefits and challenges of introducing a WIEP and how such a scheme could be implemented in the manufacturing sector to support jobs and growth.

Chair: Mark Pawsey MP

Speakers:

• Ian Levy MP
• Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea
• Emma Roberts, Director of External Affairs, WorldSkills UK
• Mark Andrews, Deputy Executive Principal, North Kent College

For more information, please contact Rob Allen robert.allen [at] policyconnect.org.uk (robert[dot]allen[at]policyconnect[dot]org[dot]uk )