NERC/ERFF Postgraduate Skills Needs Review - Identifying the skills the UK needs
We face enormous environmental challenges due to global climate change and increasing pressures on natural resources. To address consequent environmental priorities, such as predicting the impacts of climate change, the UK needs people with the right mix of postgraduate skills and knowledge.
Introduction
The NERC/ERFF Skills Needs Review has been set up to identify postgraduate skills needs which are training priorities for challenges facing the environmental sciences sector. The work is addressing one of NERC's priorities, to develop skilled people to meet future science priorities, and it will guide NERC's future investment (currently over £30m per year) in training and developing postgraduates.
The work is directed by a Project Board, chaired by Janice Timberlake, NERC Director of People, Skills & Communication, and is being carried out in association with the Environment Research Funders' Forum (ERFF).
Focus of the review
We are focusing on identifying the postgraduate skills needs of three parts of the environmental sciences sector:
- the environmental sciences research base comprising the organisations which generate knowledge concerned with investigating the state and condition of the Earth;
- the public sector bodies charged with responsibility for various aspects of the environment; eg policy makers and regulators; and
- the major relevant industrial / commercial organisations where the principal activity is the significant provision or use of environmental resources / services / products / expertise.
Review Group
A Review Group has been established to advise the Project Board. It is made up of over 50 key organisations and senior representatives of the above sub-sectors. It has already helped us by assisting in populating a draft Skills Needs Framework and encouraging others to do so. Currently, the Group is reviewing and commenting on our initial analysis and interpretation of the responses.
Public consultation
As part of the review, a public consultation about the Skills Framework was launched last November. In addition to our Review Group, it was sent to a Targeted Group of additional representatives from each sub-sector.
The consultation, now closed, received over 140 inputs. We are grateful to all those who responded. Analysis of the submissions has been a difficult and complex task. However, the work is well underway and, for the first time, a picture of skills needs across the environmental sector over the next decade is emerging.
Parallel work is being done on reviewing existing postgraduate training strategy and provision in the UK to help determine where there is a mismatch between skills needs and training provision.
What happens next?
The review's findings will be considered later in 2010 by NERC's Science and Innovation Strategy Board and the ERFF Management Board..
The review outcomes will be used to inform the next NERC Training Strategy (including how we distribute funding at PhD and MSc level) and also to provide a reference point for postgraduate level training activities within our sector, including continuing professional development and short courses. This will help us ensure that there are people with the right mix of skills and knowledge available to employers in the future.
Further information on the project is available in the document below.
Skills review further information (33KB)
If you have any queries please contact Jo Tudor or Chris Smith.
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