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Higher Level Skills Partnership: Sustainable Provision Workshop

Higher Level Skills Partnership: Sustainable Provision Workshop. Dr Jonathan Francis Head of John Tyndall Institute. 17 February 2011. Aims of Workshop. Report briefly on JTi HLSP projects since 2007 Consider drivers and strategic priorities for additional provision

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Higher Level Skills Partnership: Sustainable Provision Workshop

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  1. Higher Level Skills Partnership: Sustainable Provision Workshop Dr Jonathan Francis Head of John Tyndall Institute 17 February 2011

  2. Aims of Workshop • Report briefly on JTi HLSP projects since 2007 • Consider drivers and strategic priorities for additional provision • Consider hazards to sustainable provision • Discuss tactics for sustainability in skills provision

  3. JTi Projects • L7 Certificate in Science & Technology of Nuclear Waste • L4/5 FD Nuclear Related Technology • L4/5 FD Nuclear Project Management & Control • L7 PGCert Nuclear Safety Case

  4. Vision The University’s overall vision is to be the leading UK university for nuclear skills, operating regionally, nationally and internationally, supported by research excellence and enterprise in specialist areas.

  5. Why FDs? • Reviews in the wider context • Nuclear and Radiological Skills Study (2002) • Skills needs Assessment for the Nuclear industry (Cogent, 2006) • Regional Economic Strategy (2006) • Education to underpin skills training • Localised West Cumbrian needs

  6. What is the nuclear agenda and why is it important ?

  7. What is the nuclear agenda and why is it important ? Nuclear Industry • Important industry for the UK • 23% of all electricity • Sector contributes £3.3bn to the UK economy • Employs 40,000 people • 20,000 in the North West • .............in 2007!

  8. Global Energy Demand

  9. UK Nuclear Sites

  10. The ‘complex’ legacy • Some nuclear plants do not have detailed inventories of waste. • Some lack reliable design drawings. • Many were one-off projects, built as experiments to test new approaches and ideas. • Decommissioning was not designed in. • “Therefore the challenge is often not how to tackle a particular task, but rather deciding what the task is”. • NDA

  11. Geological Disposal of Radioactive Nuclear Waste • Depth of up to 1000 metres underground • Cost around £15bn • Will take 40 years to develop and operate • … and we are late. • Volume of waste is around 470,000 cubic metres

  12. Sustainable decommissioning • Reuse and recycling • Metals and rubble • Decontamination and exemption / free release • Offsets cost of decommissioning for NDA • Massive LCR advantages to LLWR needs • ..... All needs Higher Level Skills!

  13. New Build Westinghouse AP1000

  14. Challenges and Opportunities • Major impact of decommissioning on communities Workforce profile is changing • 8,000 job losses in Sellafield • 1 in 4 local jobs dependent on Sellafield • New technical and project management jobs at Sellafield • Retirement looming for many • The UK has a skills deficit in all these areas • Industry restructure affects the supply chain • Nuclear industry is a global industry

  15. What makes a course sustainable? • What is ‘sustainability’ in HE provision? • For who must it be sustainable? Whose benefit? • Ebb and flow of need and desire • Life cycle of the course • Evolution or re-inventing?

  16. What makes a course sustainable? • CHAMPIONS, CHAMPIONS, CHAMPIONS • Partnership with industry • HE understanding the shifting client need • Evolution of provision • Client understanding the role of HE related to training, the personal needs and sensitivity of learners and value for money • Feedback / metrics from line managers

  17. Developing threats • Funding issues • Small cohorts for bespoke courses less attractive to HE • Co-funding difficult to implement as a ‘in-kind’ arrangement • Co-funding across different providers nationally • More aggressive market forces within HE and CPD market; and public funding cuts (e.g. NDA) • Less confidence in investment – impermanent posts

  18. The End

  19. Possible Discussion 1 Assuming higher fees leads to fewer students entering HE……… • Could HE funding cuts lead to an increasing interest in STEM subjects and support for vocational courses? • Or will we see fewer students across the range of HE provision?

  20. Possible Discussion 2 • Is it possible for full-time students to be taught alongside part-time students? • Is there likely to be a shift toward part-time study?

  21. Possible Discussion 3 UCLan is engaged in the Working Higher project – a blended learning FD development for the COGENT sector • Is blended learning suitable for industrial need? • Is blended learning able to enhance sustainability of a course at foundation degree level?

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