UK to get biotech academy

A national biotech academy will be set up in the UK as part of a government plan to ensure that key sectors have access to the skills they need.

The expansion of the National Skills Academies programme will also encompass rail engineering, green building services, and the logistics and composites sectors – and receive public funds of £12 million.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson: “We are investing in the industries where employers’ need is greatest – tens of thousands of people working in these industries, the consumers they serve and the UK as a whole will see the benefit.”

Mandelson added: “New academies and investment by employers, in partnership with colleges and the education sector, will create the best training that gives people the skills they need to boost their careers and drive the economy forward.”

The strategy is the result of a Skills Audit report that set out the current standing of UK skills and looked at those that would be needed in future years to support sectors crucial to future growth.

The new academies will bring the total of National Skills Academies in the UK to 18 and see the creation of a new hub for biotechnology that will work in partnership with employers and other organisations in what the government believes is a ‘key growth’ sector.

Meanwhile, in order to train the next generation work industry workers, the Higher Education Funding Council for England has earmarked £10 million in 2010/11 to incentivise the teaching of science, technology, engineering and maths.