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European Journal of Engineering Education

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A review of literature on employability skill needs in engineering

Imren Markes
a a

Loughborough University, New Technology Institute, CEME Campus, Marsh Way, Rainham, Essex, RM13 8EU, UK Published online: 04 Oct 2011.

To cite this article: Imren Markes (2006): A review of literature on employability skill needs in engineering, European Journal of Engineering Education, 31:6, 637-650 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03043790600911704

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European Journal of Engineering Education Vol. 31, No. 6, December 2006, 637650

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A review of literature on employability skill needs in engineering

IMREN MARKES*
Loughborough University, New Technology Institute, CEME Campus, Marsh Way, Rainham, Essex RM13 8EU, UK
(Received 14 December 2005; in nal form 28 February 2006) Encouraging skills development is a key part of the UK Governments strategy. This emphasis on skills has led to changes in Higher Education, where there is an increasing recognition of the need to enhance students employability. This paper reviews the data on the type of employer skill needs available in the existing literature with a particular emphasis on those skills required by engineering and manufacturing employers. Statistical data related to skill gaps in engineering and manufacturing in the UK and London/Thames Gateway are presented with the intention to determine whether and how these relate to the employability skills and competences listed by various organisations. The paper arrives at a number of conclusions. In summary, for the engineering and manufacturing workforce skills development ethos to become widespread in London (and the UK in general), a lot more needs to be done to understand the needs of industry to be able to develop provision that supports Londoners (and the UK citizens in general) in gaining appropriate skills in engineering. This can only be achieved through cooperative, inclusive, transparent and centrally coordinated approaches to skills assessment, monitoring and development. Keywords: Engineering skills; Competencies; Employability; Skills

1.

Introduction

Encouraging skills development is a key part of the UK Governments strategy for improving the UKs productivity performance. It is well documented (Curtis 2005) that around 20% of the UKs productivity gap with France and Germany is attributed to the lack of UK workers skills. Output per worker is reported to be 16% higher in France and 31% higher in the USA. The rst large-scale survey of employers in Scotland, for example, showed 12,000 out of 65,000 vacancies to be hard to ll because applicants lacked the necessary qualications or experience (THES 8.11.2002). The literature is full of sources (see e.g. DfES/DTI 2003) reporting on the Governments drive to tackle the chronic lack of skills amongst adults in the UK. With the launch of the Skills White Paper (DfES 2005) in March 2005, a number of initiatives to address this lack of skills were proposed. These concentrate mainly on the role of the sector skills councils in helping employers to identify what skills they need, and the
*Email: DrIMarkes12@aol.com

European Journal of Engineering Education ISSN 0304-3797 print/ISSN 1469-5898 online 2006 SEFI http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/03043790600911704

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proposal to launch joint privatepublic ventures called Skills Academies, whose primary aim is to act as a brokerage and help address these needs. The emphasis on skills has also led to changes in Higher Education, which has always been a blend of vocational and academic elements in engineering. Within Higher Education (in the UK and abroad; see, for example, Heitmann 2003; Pascail 2006) there is an increasing recognition of the need to enhance students employability. As a result, and following the recommendations in the Dearing Report (HMSO 1997), all universities in Britain are expected by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Universities UK (UUK) to offer students by 2005/2006 a means of engaging in professional development planning. This emphasis on skills and competences is also reected in the UK Standards for Professional Engineering Competence, UK-SPEC (ECUK 2004a), which replaced Standards and Routes to Registration (SARTOR 3) on 1 March 2004, as well as in the Subject Benchmark Statements for Engineering of QAA (QAA 2000) and the (learning) outcomes driven approach adopted by EC(UK) in The Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes launched in 2004 (ECUK May 2004b). This nationwide emphasis on skills and the (Government and other) funding available as a result has given rise to a wealth of publications and tools reporting on the types of employability skills shortages in Britain with various sources providing their own lists of skills for employability. The aim of this paper is to review the data on the type of employer skill needs available in the existing literature with a particular emphasis on those skills required by the engineering and manufacturing employers. The paper concentrates on the UK in general (with some comparisons to Europe) and provides detailed data related to the Thames Gateway area, where the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) is based. Statistical data related to skill gaps in engineering and manufacturing in the UK and London/Thames Gateway are presented with the intention of determining whether and how these relate to the employability skills listed by various organisations.

2.

Employability skills

Employers have raised increasing concerns about the lack of suitably qualied candidates for vacancies in engineering and manufacture. There are sources (e.g. Curtis 2005) estimating that by the year 2012, there will be a need for two-thirds of jobs to be lled by people with A-levels or higher qualications. Universities UK states (UUK et al. 2002) that employability is about how individuals engage with opportunities and reect and articulate their skills and competences and claims that employability development has three aspects: 1. the development of employability attributes, 2. the development of self-promotional and career management skills, and 3. a willingness to learn and reect on learning. The employability skills of graduates in general also apply to engineering and manufacturing graduates. These skills are also called life skills, key skills, etc. (see, for example, Higher Education Academy ESC 2005a,b) and are seen as important in the areas of engineering and manufacturing as well. This section, therefore, concentrates on these skills for the purposes of comparison. Although a possession of a degree itself is taken as evidence of intellectual prowess, AgCAS (2005) states that the range of transferable skills and experience are more important to the potential employer. Many skills lists have appeared since the 1980s and judging from current research these lists will continue to appear unless a more centrally coordinated approach to skills needs research/funding distribution is carried out. Table 1 presents a comparison between

Table 1.

Employability skills in the literature. HEA Engineering Subject Centre (2005a) A survey of employers in 1992 indicated that the most important skills from employers point of view are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. effective communication (77%) teamwork (75%) ability to solve problems (62%) analytical skills (59%) exibility (58%) numeracy (42%) use of IT (20%) Employability skills

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Middlesex University (2003) Personal and career development, effective learning, communication, teamwork, IT and numeracy. Further surveys have shown that at the top of this list (which usually emphasises teamwork and written and oral communication), is imagination and creativity.

AgCAS (2005)

Heitmann (2003)

Markes et al. (2004) Key skills (communication, IT, working with others, application of number, improving own learning and performance, problem solving), Personal and professional development skills (self-management, organisational management, interacting with others, professional conduct/awareness, intellectual skills) and Technical skills (core skills: tendering, managing costs, project management, technical reports, technical drawings); Personal attributes (adaptability, assertiveness, creativity, initiative-taking, motivation and resilience). Software RAPIDdeveloped by Loughborough University: 62 skills in total.

DfEE (2000) Oral communication, teamwork, self-condence (although, in fact this a personal attribute), self-motivation and presentation. Essential skills: networking, taking initiative, creativity, the ability to establish collaborations, negotiating and research skills Important skills: strategic planning skills, time management and IT skills. Most important skills (with highest scores) for course development: communication, initiative and self-condence. Skills of lower importance (with lowest scores): oral communication, self-promotion, time management and IT.

The ability to analyse 1. Personal and professional skills and attributes: information critically and produce creative engineering reasoning and problem-solving (with 5 solutions to subskills); problems; experimentation and communication and knowledge discovery customer-facing (4 subskills); skills; system thinking initiative-taking; (4 subskills); ability to work on personal skills and attitudes your own and in a (7 subskills and attitudes); team; computing skills and professional skills and attitudes (4 subskills and technical skills attitudes) (CAD), visual and 2. Interpersonal skills: spatial awareness Teamworking skills (added to these are: (5 subskills); foreign language and Communication skills international (6 subskills). mobility, knowledge of industrial Plus 32 conceive, design, processes and implement and operate techniques, 3D subskills under 6 headings. conceptual ability, commercial (66 skills under three awareness, coping headings in total). with pressure and deadlines as well as project management, time management and effective negotiating skills).

A later survey (1994) ranks personal skills/attributes as 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) willingness to learn, commitment, reliability, self-motivation, teamwork communication.

Employers skills for employability are then presented separately as: teamworking, networking self-reliance; the ability to manage own learning and recognise professional development needs; action planning management processes (such as problem-solving and decision-making, negotiating).

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(Continued )

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Table 1.

Continued.

DfES (2003) Basic skills (literacy, language, numeracy and computer skills), intermediate skills (at associate professional, apprenticeship, technician, skilled craft or trade level), mathematics skills and leadership and management skills.

QAA (2000) Knowledge and understanding, intellectual abilities, practical skills, general transferable skills (communication, IT, managing time and resources, teamworking, undertaking lifelong learning for CPD) together with the qualities of: creativity, analytical skills, being innovative, self-disciplined, self-motivated and of enquiring mind, being ethical and enthusiastic.

EMTA (2005) Multi-skilling and greater exibility, the ability to deal with change, personal and generic skills (again a very general denition), new and specic technical skills, computer literacy and ICT skills, customer service skills/ customer awareness and ability to continue learning, reskilling.

Qualications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) as also identied by Dearing (HMSO 1997) Communication, application of number, IT, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem-solving.

Shackleton et al. (2000) At intermediate level Team leadership skills (including communication and motivational skills) and the ability to think ahead and strategically, at professional level, a combination of technical and non-technical skills (including project management, people management, commercial awareness) at senior management level, leadership skills, the ability to drive the business forward, transform systems for competitive advantage.

ESECT/Shefeld Hallam (2005) higher-level academic attributes of analysis, critique, synthesis, lateral thinking (what employers call intelligence or creative problem-solving) knowledge (and understanding of core principles in engineering) of the subject or related profession self-skills (self-condence, reliance, management, able to cope, willingness to develop) exibility and adaptability initiative and risk-taking, together with the employer-desired interactive attributes of:

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interpersonal skills, teamworking and written and oral communication.

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HEA Physical Sciences Centre (2005)

HEA Engineering Subject Centre (2005) Communication, leadership, personal effectiveness, problem-solving, task management and teamworking.

NCIHE (2005) Communication skills, numeracy, use of IT and learning how to learn.

Top 10 competencies required in current employment in UK (HEFCE 2001)

Top 10 competencies required in current employment in Europe (HEFCE 2001) Problem-solving ability Working independently Oral communication skills Working under pressure Taking responsibility and decisions Working in a team Assertiveness, decisiveness and persistence Adaptability Initiative Accuracy, attention to detail
(Continued )

Problem-solving skills, communication, analytical skills, data analysis, critical appraisal, time management, teamworking.

1. 1. Working under pressure 2. Oral communication skills 2. 3. 3. Accuracy, attention to 4. detail 5. 4. Working in a team 5. Time management 6. 6. Adaptability 7. 7. Initiative 8. Working independently 9. Taking responsibility and 8. decisions 9. 10. Planning, co-ordinating 10. and organising.

Employability skills 641

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Table 1.

Continued. Centre of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) (2005) Interpersonal skills IT customer handling general communications numeracy and literacy.

THES (11.1.2002) Motivation and enthusiasm, interpersonal skills, teamworking, oral communication and exibility.

ECUK (2004b) Problem-solving, communication, and working with others, the effective use of general IT facilities, and information retrieval skills, planning self-learning and improving performance, as the foundation for lifelong learning/CPD.

Evers et al. (1998) Managing self, communicating, managing people and tasks and mobilising innovation and change.

London Riverside (2003) Graduates lack in: teamworking, project management, negotiation, people skills and nancial management in a vocational context.

SEMTA (2004) Teamworking skills, project management and planning skills, negotiation skills, people skills and nancial management skills. In the next decade for skills development at levels 3 and 4 continuous professional development and lifelong learning will need to concentrate on: management and leadership in lean manufacturing, managing innovation, cross-functional teamworking and leadership, project management, workforce development, teamwork and communications. I. Markes

Skills required by employers: team working, communication, customer handling, numeracy, technical and practical skills and problem-solving.

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the lists of employability skills (required of graduates) produced by various organisations, all of which claim to have been produced in consultation with employers. Table 1 suggests that, there is no right way to foster student development- and hence employability as all of this depends on systems, circumstances and context (HEA 2005). It is no wonder, therefore, why so many different and thus confusing to the general public lists have emerged. It is reported in the literature (e.g. Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd/LETEC 2000) that companies are reported to have felt that the courses they were aware of were too general or too broad for their needs. The reason for the general and broad nature of the training currently offered/available could be due to the fact that majority of the research carried out does not include detailed enough data articulating skills. For example, Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd (SQW) on behalf of LETEC and Gateway to Industry (GTI) used a questionnaire (Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd/LETEC 2000, GTI/LETEC May 2000) asking employers to identify whether or not they had gaps in the following skills areas: mechanical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, and product design, amongst others. Each one of the above is a profession, which, as described by UK SPEC (for engineering) requires/involves an extensive list of skills and abilities/competences and, therefore, the usefulness of the answers to questions in such questionnaires in tailoring training programmes is doubtful. For example, although a national skills task force study on engineering (mainly large) companies showed the industry to be in turmoil as plants struggle to keep up with the pace of changes forced upon them (Shackleton et al. 2000) research conducted by various (employer-led) organisations does not include the skill of Managing Change. It is reported in the THES (1996) that the training needs of industry and commerce are not being met by colleges as few colleges conduct surveys of local business needs and little attention is paid to skill gaps in the national economy. This, once again, highlights the need for a coordinated approach in detailed skills assessment, tailored to the companys and individuals needs training. This is also where employer-led organisations, whose primary aim is to provide support for employers, need to embrace and encourage the use of skills auditing and development tools (e.g. RAPID (Markes et al. 2004)), where detailed breakdown of skills exists.

3.

Some statistical data related to skills and employability

Engineering manufacturing accounts for more than a third of total UK exports and approximately 1.63 million people are employed in over 70,000 engineering establishments in the UK (EMTA 20012005). London Annual Business Survey 2003 (LDA 2003) reports that only 13% of Londons 300,000 + businesses are engaged in the manufacturing and construction sectors, with 7% being in manufacturing. This is similar to East London, where 7% of companies are in manufacturing (LDA 2003). The Engineering Council (EC (UK)) and the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) report in ECUK (2002) that 16% of establishments in London have a current vacancy, with half of these reporting them to be hard to ll. According to a survey carried out by London Skills Forecasting Unit (2003), 6% of manufacturing establishments have reported that their staff had skills gaps (approximately 337,000 jobs). Overall, the recruitment difculty and internal skills gaps in London are reported to be similar to those for the rest

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of the UK, with 1 in 20 employers reporting gaps in basic skills (reading, writing, numeracy and oral communication), 3% reporting gaps in customer service skills, 2% with gaps in teamworking (working with others), 6% with gaps in IT, and 4% with gaps in foreign language skills.

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Seven hundred thousand Londoners are reported to have no qualications, 23% are reported to have low literacy and numeracy and 42% speak English as a second or additional language. Forty-one per cent of employers state they carry out training/skill needs analysis of their employees; in other words, 68% of employees work in establishments that conduct skills analysis (with 38% of the smallest companies, 82% of the largest companies and 61% of employers providing public services). Skills training is reported to being provided in the following areas (London Skills Forecasting Unit 2003): job-specic (69% of companies); health and safety (56%); induction (53%); new technology (37%); management (30%); supervisory (26%); customer care/service skills (20%); rst aid (19%); sales skills (13%); food hygiene (6%); other (2%).

Only 15% of companies are reported (London Skills Forecasting Unit 2003) to access e-learning, and only 29% of establishments report that training leads to qualications, with the majority (35%) leading to level 1, 20% leading to level 2, 12% leading to level 3, 7% leading to level 4, 9% leading to level 5 and 17% leading to no NVQ-equivalent qualications. Sixteen per cent of establishments use Further Education (FE) colleges for training in London (London Skills Forecasting Unit 2003) which is the same in the Thames Gateway area with 19% of companies being in the manufacturing sector (including publishing), 19% being in the manufacturing sector (non-publishing) and 28% being in the construction sector. Twenty-two per cent of establishments report that the reason for non-use of FE college is: no relevant courses available. Only 8% of engineering training is accessed from FE college. In terms of links with external organisations: 18% of companies in London have links with HE, 20% have links with FE, 26% with schools, 18% with Business Link for London, 16% with the Chamber of Commerce and 9% with the National Training Organisations (NTO). When it comes to the types of links with HE, 17% of companies offer placements to HE, 19% offer placements to FE and 24% offer placements to schools. Only 3% of companies discuss course content with HE institutions, with 80% reporting no links with HE, 78% with no links with FE and 72% with no links with schools. In terms of the UK overall, it is reported (EMTA 2002) that hard-to-ll vacancies were in craft-intensive sectors (such as motor vehicles, aerospace, metal products and mechanical engineering) and another area of recruitment difculty is in the area of technicians in electronics and aerospace and professional engineers in the electronics sector and construction. It is reported in the above reference that the skills of the engineering employers had most difculties

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nding in professional engineers include: 1. technical and (other) practical skills; 2. advanced IT and software skills; 3. problem-solving skills in order of difculty. The EMTA Labour Market Survey (2002) found that the most frequently mentioned skills gaps when also exploring technical deciencies were for:

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Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine operation (21%), assembly line/production robotics (9%), and general engineering (8%) (whilst in 1999 these were for CNC machine operations, Mechanical Engineering and Computer-Aided Design (CAD)/Computer-Aided Manufacture (CAM)/Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) (EMTA 1999)). This work also reports that 16%, 26% and 32% of establishments identied a gap between the skills of their workforce and the skills required to meet their business objectives in 2002, 1999 and 1998, respectively. In the engineering manufacturing industry, the largest number of hard-to-ll vacancies were for craft and operator/assembler jobs. In particular, welders and a wide range of CNC jobs were hard to ll. Hard-to-ll vacancies for design engineers, machinist, machine operators, sheet metal workers, project managers and tool makers are also reported to have occurred in fairly large numbers. Work carried out by Warwick Institute for Employment Research and ETB (IER/ETB 2003) reports that graduate recruitment managers felt graduates: did not possess the level and depth of technical skills required by industry, lacked soft skills (social, communication and interpersonal skills), and had poor business awareness (with poor management skills, and having theory but no practise). Important skills identied by the recruitment managers were identied as: project management and management skills. It was, however, claimed that the exigencies of the production line take precedence over an individuals training plan. Research commissioned by Gateway to Industry (GTI) and carried out by LETEC (Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd/LETEC 2000) found that the proportion of the workforce in the North Thames Gateway (NTG) area that were employed by companies not providing any training was 33% and that the hard-to-ll vacancies in the three boroughs (Barking, Dagenham and Havering) accounted for 27% of those recruited and the proportion of the workforce with a skill gap was 5% compared with 33%, 14% and 19%, respectively, for the wider NTG area. The results of the research show that 40% of companies in the NTG and 22% of those in the three boroughs expressed an interest in being contacted regarding upskilling/training offered by the GTI. The research also shows that only 5.4% of companies were experiencing training difculties (training in technical skills) with 9% being interested in identifying skills gaps, 13% experiencing recruitment difculties with 45% of companies reporting that they were likely to recruit unskilled/inexperienced people. The report identies that in this area 39% of companies report no identied skills gaps and no need for training, with only 2% with a skill gap (and not likely to train), 33% with skills gaps and likely to train. The above percentages emphasise the need to facilitate articulation of skills in companies to enable them to identify the skills gaps and training needs of their workforce. This is in agreement with the ndings of Smith and Howe (Smith and Howe 2000) whose research on small and medium enterprises

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(SMEs) in London reports on how difcult it is for employers to precisely assess the nature of their skill problems resulting in a lack of perception of training (and thus upskilling) need. The report in (Segal Quince Wicksteed Ltd/LETEC 2000) states that there is a need for training to improve: Non technical skills, including management of people and business, business development skills, marketing skills, regulations, IT support and customer care, and Technical skills: new technology, advanced technology, theory. All of these relate directly to employers and businesses needs rather than employees development/lifelong learning/own training needs, which again is in agreement with the ndings of Smith and Howe (2000), who conclude that upskilling is initiated by management decisions in companies or by individual staff appraisals, in response to company (usually immediate) and not employee needs. Smith and Howe (2000), on the other hand, have looked on the type of skill deciencies notied by employers in the London East TEC (LETEC) area and report, based on LETEC data, that the main gaps experienced by employers were: technical/job-related skills (33%); computer literacy/user skills (31%); customer handling (8%); team working (6%); personal skills ( 6%); and management skills (5%).

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Smith and Howe (2000) conclude, however, that, based on employers feedback, skills gaps are a feature of lower level, rather than higher level occupationsand that as such there are skills gaps (and thus the need for training) in the areas of generic skills (numeracy, literacy, personal skills, IT skills); vocational/job-specic skills; management skills (strategic planning, business planning, time management, effective delegation); customer and people skills (marketing, selling, customer care); nance skills (budgeting, cash-ow, cost control, book-keeping), IT skills and other skills (legal issues, health and safety and rst aid). Their conclusion worryingly implies that there is no need for skill development at higher-level occupations, despite their nding that upskilling is initiated by those in higher-level occupations, i.e. management, and despite the SEMTA (2004) ndings detailing the skills shortages in higher-level occupations. The London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, however, are reported to have the lowest proportion of the workforce holding NVQ level 3 or above in Greater London, which may explain the reasons for the conclusions of Smith and Howe (2000).

4.

Discussions and conclusions

The following can be concluded from the review of the literature carried out in this paper. If anyone with any level of interest in skills starts by looking at existing practice, he/she is likely to nd (just as the author of this paper did) an overwhelming list of publications

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with numerous lists of skills produced by universities, skills development agencies, sector skills councils, various local establishments (e.g. LDA, London Riverside Ltd, CEME Ltd), all of which are claimed to have been prepared in consultation with employers. All of this is more than likely to confuse and discourage any consideration of skills assessment and upgrade. The available research works and skills auditing and development tools use different lists and number of skills (breakdown if any) and different terminologies, which makes it impossible for meaningful comparisons to be conducted, meaningful conclusions to be drawn and meaningful assessments to be carried out. There is an increased need for a common terminology used in employer-led/FE- and HE-led surveys to articulate engineering/graduate/employability skills in detail. A comparison of the extensive lists produced by academic establishments and those produced by other organisations (e.g. SSDA, SSC, CEME, LDA) shows that those produced by non-academic establishments do not include the detailed articulation of skills, which is evident in the lists (and skills auditing and development tools) produced by HE institutions. Considering that only 18% of companies in London have links with universities (GTI/LETEC 2000), the above differences are not surprising. The analysis of the work reviewed in this paper suggests that for successful skills development there is a need for: Greater interaction/collaboration between universities and companies to enable skills auditing and development tools that best address employer (and employee) needs. This is likely to remove the differences in terminology as well as lengths and contents of the various employability skills and attributes lists that most students, graduates, employees and citizens nd confusing and off-putting. It was mentioned in section 2 that only 16% of companies in London use FE colleges with the reasons for non-use being the lack of relevant courses. Greater interaction will also enable all (including employers) to better articulate the skills gaps and shortages enabling HE and FE colleges to develop a more tailored approach in meeting employer upskilling needs through education and training most suited to their needs. Greater interaction between HE/FE and various skills agencies. This will eliminate the differences between skills terminologies employed (e.g. between mechanical engineering skills used by LDA and SEMTA as opposed to the articulated range of skills that fall under the mechanical engineering category, as used by academic institutions (e.g. those in RAPID developed by Loughborough University)). This, in turn, will help clarify the confusion on current existing qualications, skills and competences in engineering. Skills Academies need to provide thorough and detailed analyses of labour market information, in close collaboration with FE and HE to enable businesses and the public sector to identify their workforce upskilling needs. More reliable base of information on labour market and skill needs. Labour market information is not detailed enough to support specic course planning. There is evidence that businesses lack in understanding of the skill (and qualications) levels required in the medium and long term. The majority of skills surveys (e.g. London Production Industries Commission 2004) come up with 710-year projections of the likely skills shortages and training needs over future years, although it is widely recognised that in reality a few businesses are likely to have thought beyond their immediate need for the next year. It is clear, however, that such future training needs are a function of changes in numerous factors including, for example, the technology and Research and Development industries, markets, legislation and investment and their usefulness is, therefore, doubtful. This results in unidentied skills shortages or gaps (thus the reason for 39% of companies in London reporting no identied skill gaps), which are impossible to address. The above is evident from the lack of detailed skills breakdown information collected in various research projects the ndings of which are too general and thus of limited use in planning present and future training.

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Employers want graduates who can help them deal with change and it is not sufcient for HE institutions (HEI) and graduate applicants to simply list the skills they have developed. Enhancing employability requires a holistic approach integrating knowledge, work experience and technical and interactive skills development and reecting on how these can meet the needs of a exible organisation. Otherwise, there is the danger of, for example, employers ending up with employees who are highly competent in teamworking and project management skills but lack in the knowledge and understanding of what the project is all about. Efforts to increase employability need to be holistic, strategic and based on close collaboration between HEIs, employers and government. The holistic approach is also likely to change the mindset/attitude and win the support of the academic and business world and decrease the perceived antipathy towards skills development in general. The available literature indicates in detail that there are differences (mainly in terminology, number and also in the order of skill prioritisation) between what various (engineering and manufacturing) employers and various organisations/institutions consider graduate skills for employability. To avoid confusion and thus eliminate the perceived antipathy towards upskilling, there is a need for accepted and recognised-by-all, generic, core graduate skills for employability applicable to all graduates, irrespective of their discipline. It will then be up to each discipline and individual engineering company to identify and ensure with the help of the relevant Skill Academies the development of education and training around any additional specic key competencies that are required for specic disciplines and jobs within the company. This requires a coordinated approach to skills needs assessment and training provision and thus a central coordinating body that can act as a one-stop shop, consolidating research and dissemination efforts so that there are fewer, larger projects, based on a common and shared-by-all terminology, tailored to better meet employers and employees needs. In summary, therefore, for the engineering and manufacturing workforce skills development ethos to become widespread in London (and the UK in general), a lot more needs to be done to understand the needs of industry to be able to develop provision that supports Londoners (and the UK citizens in general) in gaining appropriate skills in engineering. This can only be achieved through cooperative, inclusive, transparent and centrally coordinated approaches to skills assessment, monitoring and development. Acknowledgement The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Adam Crawford at the nal drafting and proofreading stages of the manuscript. References
AgCAS, Occupational proles, your degree in product/industrial design . . . what next, Gail Ferrier 2003, and Mechanical Engineer B. Dixon, Shefeld, 2005. CEME Ltd, Training Needs in the Region of CEME, Rainham, Essex, 2005. Curtis, P, UK Plans Skills Academies to Close Productivity Gap, Guardian Newspapers Ltd, 22 March 2005. DfEE, HE and Career Patterns in the Cultural Industries, 2000 (DfEE: London). DfES, Developing a National Skills Strategy and Delivery Plan: Underlying Evidence, 2003 (DfES: Shefeld). DfES, 1419 Education and Skills, CM6476, February 2005 (DfES: Shefeld). DfES/DTI, HM Treasury, DWP, 21st Century Skills: Realising Our Potential Individuals, Employers, Nation, CM5810, 2003 (DfES: Shefeld). ECUK , UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence The Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes, ISBN 1-898126-63-1, 2004 (ECUK : London). ECUK , Output Standards for Accredited Engineering Programmes, May 2004 (ECUK : London). EMTA, Labour Market Survey, 1999 (EMTA: Watford).

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About the author Imren Markes is a Senior Lecturer in Product Design and Engineering at Middlesex University. She took a two-year secondment (20042006) to work as Skills Development Co-ordinator in the Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Loughborough University.

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She received her BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 and her MSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1989 at Istanbul Technical University in Turkey, and her PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 at Staffordshire University in the United Kingdom. After graduating in 1985 she worked as Research Assistant at Istanbul Technical University and as Senior Research Assistant at the University of Wales in Swansea. She took her position of Lecturer in the School of Engineering Systems at Middlesex University in 1996 and her position of Senior Lecturer in 1998.

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