Engineering expert Jim Kay says that fostering technical skills is vital

The Government recently announced a pledge to create three million apprenticeships by 2020. The move highlights a positive trend towards recognising the value of technical skills to individuals, employers, and the economy at large. But more still needs to be done.

To really support young people with technical minds, we must try to shift perceptions so that apprenticeships are considered just as valuable as university degrees. Only then will we see the numbers of people coming forward with the skills required to support the UK economy.

Skilled technical people are the backbone of the science, technology, and manufacturing industries. For me, the value of apprenticeships has been reinforced throughout my career and in my current position as Head of Engineering at one of the UK’s most advanced scientific facilities, the Diamond Light Source synchrotron in south Oxfordshire.

Diamond currently funds eight apprentices as part of the wider STFC RAL Apprentice Training Scheme. Through the programme, apprentices can acquire training in a wide range of technical skills, from electrical work, to electronics, to mechanics. They’re able to practice what they’ve learned at Diamond, supporting scientific research projects as part of a team tackling some of the world’s most important challenges, like cancer, HIV, renewable energy sources, nanotechnology, and much more.

But we still need more people to apply for these positions. There’s a real lack of applicants coming forward to take part, and I expect that has something to do with wider expectations and perceptions of apprenticeships. The early 2000s saw Government targets calling for 50% of young people to go to university. Whilst academia is rewarding and helpful for lots of individuals, the race to get as many young people as possible into university has had the effect of devaluing more vocational pursuits.

Perhaps this curtailing of options has seen some people overlooking what might well have been a profoundly fulfilling career in the technical industries.

An apprenticeship can offer so much to young people. It’s not just about the skills acquired; it’s also the first-hand work experience, the generous salary, and the variety of fantastic careers that a technical qualification opens up.

Someone with mechanical training need not necessarily work in the car industry; they could find a career helping to assemble particle accelerators like Diamond. A qualification in electronics could see former apprentices building control systems to precisely manipulate samples, like cancer proteins or graphene, in front of the X-ray beam. Ross Brawn, Formula One team star, was once an apprentice at RAL. There are apprenticeship opportunities in business and IT; young people can learn professional skills that will equip them for careers in finance, HR, computing, and more.

There really is a huge variety of important and challenging careers on offer for qualified apprentices; it’s just a matter of getting that message out there and letting people know that these opportunities exist.

That said, we are seeing a real shift now in ideas about vocational careers. This move has been well supported by the Government and by employers, keen to capitalise on the expertise of apprentices. We now have technical schools springing up across the UK: these institutions offer technically-minded students the opportunity to build up their skills and FastTrack to a career in industry.

Giving young people the option to choose the career path that best suits them, free of judgement, will not only be better for them, it will also benefit the UK as a whole, helping us to develop the technical talent that we so vitally need. People with the ability to help design, assemble, operate, and maintain our industrial economy are out there; we just need to find them.