LEARNER drivers

Technical skill and business experience are hot commodities in the process industries' employment market. Combine them and you could produce the sort of dynamic individuals that make the key difference to a company's prospects.

If you or your staff have these skills but in the wrong proportions, there are plenty of opportunities out there to learn afresh. Industrial and business training courses abound, but what do you get for your money?

Technical courses come in several forms. Larger companies offer in-house opportunities; systems suppliers give best practice demonstrations; dedicated trainers such as Sira present numerous short courses, research and technology organisations (RTOs - see below) have more in-depth learning opportunities. Government laboratories, for example NPL, enhance the knowledge of specialists, as do their privatised counterparts like AEA Technology and DRA.

Process and instrumentation industries in particular are the targets of Sira's courses. Stephen Lower, marketing manager, says: `We run about 50 courses per year, as well as forums and debates, in which people express more controversial opinions about industry.

`Currently, the level of training we offer is at what we call the middle of the pyramid, somewhere between entry level and the top, which accounts for about 70 per cent of our delegates.'

More recently, Sira, which has been offering safety and calibration courses for more than 30 years, has been considering offering higher level courses to senior managers, notably in Fieldbus implementation. `We also want to take some courses down to entry level,' Lower adds.

In 1995, Sira went through an exercise with the IMC/IEE to be able to offer attendees continuing professional development points, instead of just a piece of paper. There will be a new type of course in September, training people in how to use gas detectors, which can result in a competency certificate recognised by the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation.

The National Vocational Qualifications issue is problematical for Ray Hewitt, Sira's course manager. `We don't run any NVQs at the moment because the administrative time and cost of running them would be prohibitive.'

Many employers remain mystified about what an NVQ actually qualifies its holder to do.

Traditionally Sira has offered one, two or three-day courses, usually costing between £200 and £900 (see Events p14), but the company is considering longer courses. Cranfield University will be requiring certain MSc students to attend Sira's pending Fieldbus course.

Popular courses include calibration testing which explains the need for proper quality control. For example, to attain ISO 9002 requires knowledge of calibration of equipment. Lower says: `We can bring into QMS suggestions for improving businesses, for example obtaining NAMAS accreditation.'

One example of a satisfied customer is Genzyme, a biotechnology company in Maidstone, which wanted to upgrade its QMS system to meet the requirements of the USFood and Drug Administration. After attending the basic course it followed up with consultancy.

Satisfied customers

One of Sira's most popular courses occurs just before Christmas, when delegates from all over the country flock to Chislehurst, convenient for London's Oxford Street. So they think.

The company is involved with the Shell/DTI-sponsored STEP scheme, which aims to place 1000 students a year into industry to obtain worthwhile experience. Sira handles 12-15 such students.

Moreover, in the near future Lower believes that the Government's Welfare to Work programme might involve `training providers like us.'

Dedicated research facilities may be combined with real workplace situations to give students new or refined skills as well as commercial experience.

Business opportunity investigation group the Centre for the Exploitation of Science and Technology (CEST) jointly manages the Postgraduate Training Partnership (PTP) with the Teaching Company Directorate. CEST project leader Jeremy Holland tells PE: `The UK's small business base has been separated from academic opportunities. The PTP offers benefits to participating companies, to students who undertake PhDs and to their universities.'

The PTPs operate between eight research and technology organisations and their associated universities, such as BHR Group and Cranfield; National Engineering Laboratory and the University of Strathclyde; and EA Technology and UMIST, (see p46 and p25).

RTOs, which operate like a university funded by industry, tend to have a particular industrial focus.

Student placements are part state funded; by the DTI and EPSRC. The company involved also pays anything between £2500 and £25 000 depending on the extent of its involvement

Each partnership maintains a number of PhD students, typically about 10 per year; 30 in total over the three-year courses. Students are based at the university but the projects are chosen by the partnership. The RTOs in turn have to be sure that the work they do benefits what they are doing. The students gain exposure to the commercial environment, so at the end of the project they are more employable and provide greater benefit to the employer.