Our University has become a signatory to the Science Council’s Technician Commitment, reflecting its pledge to ensure greater visibility, recognition and support for technicians throughout the institution, whilst also increasing efforts to address the widening STEM skills gap in relation to key technical roles within higher education.
In becoming a signatory, the University commits to five key areas:
- visibility – ensuring that the contribution of technicians is visible within and beyond the institution;
- recognition – supporting technicians to gain recognition through professional registration;
- career development – enable career progression through clear documented career pathways;
- sustainability – ensure the future sustainability of technical skills across the organisation and that technical expertise is fully utilised;
- evaluating impact – regularly assess the impact of actions taken in support of the commitment to ensure their effectiveness.
As a signatory institution, the University will benefit from a toolkit which provides advice and signposting to support technician-specific projects and resources.
President and Vice-Chancellor Sir Christopher Snowden, who signed the commitment on behalf of the University, believes that the value of technicians should not be underestimated.
“Highly-skilled technicians are key to our ability to deliver high-quality research, education and enterprise activities across a wide range of disciplines,” said Sir Christopher. “Estimates show that up to 1.2 million technical and digitally skilled people will be needed by 2022 to satisfy the higher education sector’s skills requirement, so we must act now to develop new and innovative ways to attract and retain the experience, expertise and professionalism of technicians to ensure our success for the future.”
The University will uphold its commitment by establishing a Technician Steering Group, chaired by Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, Dean of Engineering and Physical Sciences, with technical and academic representation from each faculty. The steering group will assess how the University is meeting each of the five key areas of action, and create an action plan to improve on its current position.
