Employers:

Employers and the jobs that their businesses provide lie at the heart of the Academy’s purpose, which is to ensure there are skilled and motivated people to take up these opportunities.  The Academy will strengthen and extend the core activities previously carried out by OPITO around developing standards and work with employers throughout the industry to identify their needs and have them met. The Oil & Gas UK Skills Forum will help to facilitate this communication between the Academy and employers across the industry, as membership to the Forum is open to both Oil & Gas UK members and non-members.

Individuals:

The creation of the Academy shows the industry’s commitment to investing in developing the people and processes needed to support its demands now and in the future.  Whether you are just starting out and looking for help getting into the industry or already working in the industry and looking to develop your skills, the Academy will help point you in the right direction.

Learning Provision:

A significant reason for the creation of the Oil and Gas Academy is to provide an effective link between the industry and those organisations that can provide the best learning and training across the UK to meet its needs.  An important deliverable for the Academy is therefore to work with learning and training providers to develop the world class learning supply needed to support a world class business both in the UKCS and abroad.

Education:

The industry recognises the contribution that education and academia make in the development of knowledge and basic skills that prepare the industry’s feedstock.  To contribute to this, the Academy will establish and build with academia a community of practice called the “Faculty of Learning” where industry and educationalists can work together to establish a shared agenda to support teaching and learning.  

Partner Organisation:

A key aim of the Academy is to establish a variety of collaborative relationships with trade bodies, government, enterprise agencies and local authorities, to proactively identify opportunities, facilitate innovation and share best practice that will deliver mutual benefit and support the industry’s learning needs. These organisations will become the Academy’s Alliance Partners.

For more information see www.opito.com 

Technician Training Scheme

The Upstream Technician Training Scheme is an example of the positive effect joint industry initiatives can have on skills shortages within the industry, particularly in the 18-23 age group. It is a collective industry approach to attracting and developing a new generation of competent individuals to deliver a reliable stream of process and maintenance technicians to offset anticipated attrition to the current population from retirement, resignation and redeployment outside the UKCS.

The current scheme has been in operation since 2001 a new 5-year commitment was secured in 2007. The scheme is designed to replenish the core crew technician population of: Electrical Maintenance; Mechanical Maintenance; Processing Hydrocarbons; Instrument maintenance

The Upstream Technician Training Scheme recruits around 100-120 technical trainees each year, and provides a combination of ‘off the job’ training at college with 2 years ‘on the job’ experience involving time offshore. 111 new apprentices were recruited onto this Modern Apprenticeship scheme for the industry in September 2007, bringing the total that have been involved in the scheme to more than 720 by the end of 2007. A further 100 places are to be offered this September. The scheme is currently 8-10 times over subscribed, demonstrating that the UK upstream oil and gas industry is still a very attractive industry, particularly for young workers. Of the 2007 applications to OPITO, 8% were from females and 2% from ethnic minorities. This scheme will continue to target these minorities as part of its ongoing activities.

Industry investment into the Technician Training Scheme is, to date, over £44 million.

For more information on the Upstream Technician Training Scheme see
www.oilandgastechnicians.com

Skills and Training- Further information, Schemes and Programmes

Offshore Training Foundation

The launch of the Offshore Training Foundation (OTF) in 2005 marked the consolidation into one fund of the industry’s previous financial investment in a number of training and education activities. Funds in the region of £4 million from the disposal of RGIT Montrose were combined with reserves from OPITO to create a consolidated fund to be utilised for the benefit of the industry.

The OTF funds are used on a variety of innovative projects to help attract, retain and develop a suitably skilled workforce. Examples of these projects include developing fast-track entry routes for skilled workers from other sectors, research and evaluation projects designed to confirm and quantify the issue facing offshore positioning and geotechnical services, online assessment tools and broader work with schools and colleges.

For more information on the OTF see www.offshoretrainingfoundation.com

Graduate Attraction and Careers Fairs

The upstream sector is also involved in a successful graduate attraction programme, started in 2002, which has resulted in a mobile exhibition of industry career opportunities visiting multiple universities across the UK with up to 3,000 students attending annually. Recruitment Fairs featuring various member companies and other oil and gas companies have also taken place across the UK, with over 7,000 prospective candidates attending 2006 events in Glasgow and Newcastle alone. These candidates included graduates, skilled and experienced professionals who could easily be transferred into the oil and gas industry.

ESEU

Oil & Gas UK also support the Earth Science Education Unit, based at Keele University. The ESEU provides free in-service training (INSET) in Earth science to teachers across England, Scotland and Wales, through workshops for schools, teacher meetings and teacher education institutions. In 2002, Oil & Gas UK (then UKOOA) provided funding to the ESEU for a five year programme of INSET delivery, research and development. This programme is designed to improve teachers' skills and understanding in teaching core Earth science topics, a neglected area of the curriculum which is vital to the sustainability of the oil and gas industry’s skills sector. In 2006, Oil & Gas UK agreed to fund a further 5 year programme, supporting the ESEU until 2012.

For more information see www.earthscienceeducation.com