UK’s Maritime Minister, Nusrat Ghani, announced a £100,000 programme, funded by the government, to boost maritime careers through 10 roadshows around the UK, in order to attract more young people in a career at sea.
According to the announcement, girls aged between 11 to 14, will be joined by women from the maritime sector to teach them about all the options they have, prior to making their GCSE choices.
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Concerning the skills gap, the Minister announced a funding to acknowledge and address the skills gaps and improve careers promotion. Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, recently, conducted a research revealing that more than 67% of people surveyed believe that there is a skills gap within the sector.
In essence of the skills gap, the funding goes as:
- £40,000 for the ‘Maritime and Me’ campaign – a new industry-led project aiming to increase and retain female talent in the maritime sector
- £300,000 for a new Maritime Skills Commission to identify existing and future skills needs of the sector, informing the training curriculum and ensuring it evolves over time
- £250,000 for a new single industry body that will raise awareness of maritime careers in schools and better coordinate their promotion sector wide
This announcement follows Boris’ Johnson, UK Prime Minister, announcement on ‘bringing shipbuilding back to the UK’ and strengthening the Royal Navy, following Brexit.
Maritime Minister Nusrat Ghani commented
We need to ensure this fantastic industry is fuelled with the brightest talent from across the country, and that means tapping into the potential of our diverse society and increasing the number of women working in maritime. The ‘Maritime and Me’ project will use a public campaign to show girls of all ages the fantastic range of opportunities in maritime – from jobs at sea to engineers on the shore.
Also, Victoria Atkins, Minister for Women, stated that ‘usually girls outperform boys in STEM subjects at GCSE. Yet, compared with boys, almost half the number of girls feel a STEM subject is their strongest. This means industry is missing out on top talent.‘
Boosting the variety in UK’s maritime sector is in line with the Maritime 2050 Strategy, launched by the Department for Transport, which outlines its ambition for the UK to become a world leader in the move to clean maritime.