Poor school science focus 'hitting top skills base'

SCOTLAND has a great engineering heritage - but a lack of focus on the subject in schools is making recruitment of skilled people extremely difficult.

That was the message from Charles Thompson, of BAE Systems, the UK's largest employer of engineers which has a workforce of 5,000 across three sites in Scotland - Glasgow, Prestwick and Hillend, Fife.

Mr Thompson told The Scotsman Conference: "Scotland has a proud heritage to deliver world-class ships. History and sentiment do not win contracts, but the skills base in Scotland, unique in the UK, is critical. In a changing global economy, future skills are a key issue. The challenge is to supply continuing engineering talent across all sectors."

Mr Thompson, communications director for BAE Systems Maritime, said BAE took on 50-plus graduates every year, but that there was increasing competition for a limited pool of skilled people who took "Stem" subjects - science, technology, engineering and maths. Mr Thompson said: "Stem skills are valued by employers across many different sectors (including oil and gas and renewables] and competition for these skills is creating real problems for industry.

"A survey showed 59 per cent of firms expect difficulties recruiting in the next ten years - and these maths and science problems are starting in schools. Engineering does not appear to have a sufficiently high focus across Scotland's schools."

Angela Mathis, chief executive of Think Tank Maths, agreed with conference chairman Bill Jamieson, Scotsman executive editor, that Stem students should be considered for preferential funding to try to drive through more suitable graduates.