By Janine Marshall, Head of Business Development, RTC North
For years, we have talked about STEM as an education issue.
How do we get more young people interested in science? How do we encourage more girls into Engineering and Tech? How do we make maths relevant? How do we show young people where STEM subjects can take them?
They are all important questions. But I think we need to ask a much bigger one.
What happens to our economy if we don't get this right?
Because STEM is no longer simply a conversation about education. It is about whether the UK has the people and skills to deliver the economic ambitions we have set ourselves.
Clean energy. Defence. Advanced manufacturing. Artificial intelligence. Cybersecurity. Life sciences.
Look closely at almost every area where we expect future growth and the same dependency appears: people with STEM skills.
Capital without capability only gets us so far
Skills England estimates that employment across priority occupations could increase by around 1.8 million by 2035, with digital and engineering professions featuring strongly among them.
We can invest in new technologies, infrastructure and innovation. We can set ambitious targets for net zero, increase defence investment and accelerate AI adoption.
But somebody still has to design it, build it, programme it, operate it and improve it. Capital without capability only gets us so far.
We cannot start thinking about skills when a vacancy appears, by then, we're already too late.
The shortage may have started years earlier, when a young person didn't know a career existed, couldn't see someone like themselves doing it, or couldn't connect what they were learning in the classroom with opportunities in the world around them.
That is why STEM engagement cannot sit at the edge of economic development.
It is long-term workforce planning and industry has to be part of the answer.
Schools and teachers have an enormous role to play, but we cannot place responsibility for the UK's future workforce entirely at the classroom door.
Businesses need to be part of the solution.
Young people need engineers, scientists, technicians and technologists to make careers real. They need to understand the problems businesses are solving – from sustainable manufacturing and clean energy to cybersecurity and AI.
And businesses need to see that engagement differently too.
An engineer spending time in a classroom isn't simply CSR. It can be an investment in the talent pipeline that the company, sector and region will depend upon in the future.
There is also a huge pool of untapped potential. Women currently account for only around 17% of the UK's engineering and technology workforce.
We cannot talk about skills shortages while continuing to draw talent from too narrow a pool.
Skills are infrastructure too
At RTC North, we see the impact of connecting education and industry first-hand.
Through the STEM Hub, we bring businesses, educators and young people together across the North East and Yorkshire and Humber.
