To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail her plans to make further and higher education courses more flexible to meet the requirements of businesses in order to attract them to Northern Ireland.

My Department and its delivery partners carry out an extensive amount of work in this area as outlined below.

Skills Strategy

My Department is currently working on the development of a new Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland for consultation and publication in 2021. The overarching focus of the Strategy is on developing a skills system which drives economic prosperity and tackles social inequality.

We have developed three major policy objectives: addressing skills imbalances, creating a culture of lifelong learning and enhancing digital education and

inclusion across society. Through these objectives, we aim to ensure economic success is balanced, by providing everyone with the education and training opportunities that enable them to participate in a rapidly changing labour market.

During the evidence gathering phase of the Strategy project, feedback from stakeholders in Northern Ireland consistently emphasised the need for a more agile, responsive approach to skills development. The new Skills Strategy will, therefore, include a 2-5-10 year implementation plan, developed in close collaboration with key stakeholders and designed to adapt to change, increase transparency and cultivate a more collaborative approach to economic and social development. This will require a flexible approach to skills delivery, with input from employers key to its success.

Higher Education

While Northern Ireland’s higher education institutions are autonomous and, as such, are ultimately responsible for the content, structure and delivery of their own courses, I fully recognise the importance of matching the supply of graduate level skills to those demanded by the local economy.

The Northern Ireland Skills Barometer indicates that HE skills are, in general, only marginally undersupplied. However, there is an imbalance across individual subject areas, with the some of the largest undersupply predicted in STEM-related subjects.

Northern Ireland’s universities are aware of this undersupply, and have taken measures to rebalance provision, with the result that enrolments and qualifications in STEM subjects have been increasing over the past number of years. In 2012/13, 22% of students at Northern Ireland’s higher education institutions were studying a Narrow STEM related subject, and 45% were studying a Broad STEM related subject. In 2018/19, these figures had risen to 25.9% and 50.5% respectively.

My Department is currently reviewing possible interventions, and will continue to work with the local universities, to examine how best to ensure that the supply of graduates is aligned with the needs of the local economy.

Further Education

Further Education (FE) colleges are the main providers of professional and technical skills in Northern Ireland and play a pivotal role in generating a strong and vibrant economy by supporting employers to innovate, grow and build their skills base.

The six Colleges have a total of 30 campuses located across Northern Ireland and use the strong links they have established with local employers and other stakeholders to ensure that the curriculum offered is sufficiently agile to meet the changing skills needs of indigenous and foreign direct investment companies in their areas.

In addition, seven FE Curriculum Hubs have been established in key occupational areas to draw on the collective experience and expertise of all six FE colleges in order to ensure curriculum is high quality, consistent, current and responsive to the needs and demands of individual companies and the broader economy.

Assured Skills, InnovateUS and Skills Focus

The Department’s Assured Skills pre-employment training programme works closely with Invest Northern Ireland to deliver a range of in-demand skills to meet the needs of potential inward investment companies or locally based expanding companies.

The Assured Skills programme, delivered through an Academy model, by both further and higher education institutions, offers training in complex, cutting edge, subjects such as robotics, cybersecurity and data analytics. This engagement with business affords FE and HE the opportunity to upskill lecturers to deliver the latest in skills demanded by growing industries.

Once established in Northern Ireland, companies can avail of the post-employment skills development programmes through Skills Focus (fewer than 250 employees) and InnovateUs (fewer than 50 employees) ensuring a continuous learning route for SME’s. The training, delivered by FE, is tailored to suit the needs of the individual business to upskill employees and engage in developing innovative products, processes and services.

Sectoral Partnerships

Sectoral Partnerships have been established across a number of sectors and bring together employers, curriculum experts from further and higher education and policy advisors to ensure apprenticeship and traineeship curriculum and qualifications meets the current and future skills needs of industry.