scoping our future - ANET - Australian National Engineering Taskforce

Scoping Our Future Addressing Australia’s Engineering Skills Shortage | 31ANET was set up to develop anational workforce developmentplan for engineering, workingwith stakeholders, developingsolutions to labour supply,vocational and higher educationissues in engineering.With Government leadership, ANETis building capacity to address theskills shortages outlined in this paper,by engaging industry, academiaand the relevant professional andindustrial bodies to bring our jointresources to bear on this key issueof engineering labour supply. ANETpartner organisations represent keyprofessional, industrial and academicinterests in professional engineering,and are able to provide access to keyexpertise, resourcing and networks tobring our collective wisdom to bear onthis problem.ANET is supported by a broad groupof interested organisations who haveidentified that the current approachto skills development is not working.These include industry groups, publicservice asset owners and groupsinterested in furthering the status of theengineering profession. These groupswill be actively involved in ANET’sprojects as we progress our agenda tobuild policy solutions to the engineeringskills shortage with key support from theAustralian Government.ANET represents a new approach to anissue that is well-recognised as a keyconstraint on economic development andinnovation, and which has far-reachingeffects on job creation, climate changeadaptation and community wellbeing.ANET models innovative workforcedevelopment solutions, seeking to buildpolicy recommendations based on robustacademic research and developedthrough consultation with key industryand community stakeholders.ANET PROJECTSSkills Mapping for WorkforceDevelopmentIn recognition of the need for this work,ANET has received funding through theDepartment of Education, Employmentand Workplace Relations to undertakean initial modelling and scoping project,reporting in 2011. In its initial phase, theproject will investigate skills developmentand mobility in the engineeringworkforce across two key industries,road and rail. These are two identifiedindustries suffering a shortfall of bothspecialist engineering skills and generalengineering capacity.This project will:• provide analysis of supply/demand bykey sectors/industries;• detail issues/problems and recommendsolutions for sustainable employmentand improved engineering workforcedevelopment;• form the basis of ANET’s consultationand policy formulation to promoteworkforce development solutions to theengineering capacity crisis.This initial project will provide the evidencebase for policy and implementation in thisarea, including development of innovativeworkforce development processesfor industry collaboration. By buildingcapacity to respond to skills demand,ANET will build Australia’s capacity forjob-creation, nation building innovation,and creative responses to climate change.Capacity-building througheducation and trainingANET has also been funded to investigatehow Australia’s education and trainingsystem might assist in building engineeringcapacity to help alleviate skills shortages.This project will examine engineeringprograms in the vocational and highereducation sectors to assess how successfulthe current arrangements are in providingpathways for students from VET tohigher education and from educationto employment. The research will alsoinvestigate issues of student preparation,retention and attrition and industryengagement in VET and higher education.