Barony College, near Dumfries is to host a two day event in March designed to raise awareness of the land based engineering industries training and educational needs for the future.

"it has long been recognised that there is a significant challenge in recruiting the right type of individual capable of developing the knowledge and skill set the industry needs for it to have a future" says Head of Engineering Drew Easton "Then meeting a further challenge to retain the individuals once their education and training has been concluded"

There is a need to develop an educational platform that will deliver education and training at a level to provide customer support for the expensive equipment they have purchased, realistically for delivery in 2025.  We need to put in place the building blocks of a good solid structure which can remain stable and be reasonably “future proof”

This is an opportunity for the industry to be proactive. It is our intention to bring together dealers, manufacturers, customers and educationalists to facilitate a solution to many of the problems we are facing so that we can plan and identify who is best placed to influence the outcome.

12 MARCH 2014:   INDUSTRY DAY

This will take the form of a series of 15 minute presentations from:

• Dealer representative
• Manufacturer representative
• Customer representative
• Education representative

It will detail some of the challenges they face at the moment and some of the challenges they perceive they may face in the future, there will be a 10 minute question and answer session after each presentation, this is not to find a solution but to gain clarity on what has been presented!

This will be followed by  three” break out” areas, each of which will have a facilitator and a recorder. The afternoon will be concluded by the facilitator / recorder providing feedback to the group, there will be opportunity for questions and discussion as part of an open forum

Evening:
This is an opportunity to relax and enjoy a meal at the Aston Hotel on the Crichton Campus in Dumfries, there will be an after dinner speaker and an opportunity to network during the evening.

Accommodation
For those who are travelling from afar there will be accommodation available at the Aston on the evening of the 12 and 13 March, we would like to confirm the accommodation booking and we would appreciate if you would contact Jacqueline Kennedy on 01387 242911 jacqueline.kennedy@sruc.ac.uk at your earliest convenience

13 MARCH 2014:  CAREERS DAY

Which would include selected participants of Industry day and our student group acting as hosts; this would run from 10am – 4pm

Target audience:
School Careers advisors, School pupils, (Including Females) School leavers, Adult learners, Career changers, Dealers / Potential employers, Job centre staff & other stakeholders.

A Formal presentation given to visiting guests in the conference room, with an interactive information stations set up in the workshops and sports hall (e.g. Tractor simulator, Forestry simulator, Hydraulic systems trainer, Machine control centres, Meccanno competition, Careers guidance)

We would ask that manufacturers consider supporting the event by providing equipment either directly or through the dealer network, this would enable the target audience to understand the range and complexity of machinery involved in land based engineering. We would also ask participants to consider setting up an interactive workstation which will be located in the sports hall, the challenge in this is to make the workstation interactive and engaging – This could be in the form of a competition or quiz or may provide the opportunity for participants to try things, there should also be consideration given to careers advice which may be based on presenters experience or industry needs which may be current or future.

Our target audience is Careers Advisors, Schoolchildren from 12 years + , Career changers, Females and generally anyone who has an interest in LB Engineering  – as part of the outcome of day 2 we would need to gather feedback from the participants.

This event is being supported by the following: John Deere, AGCO, CLAAS, Kubota, Lely, Krone, Kuhn, Clark Engineering, Ritchie (Forfar), and by SDS (Skills development Scotland),  BAGMA (British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association) and AEA (Agricultural Engineers Association).

BOOKINGS AND FURTHER INFORMATION
Please email Drew Easton  or Jacqueline Kennedy  phone 01387 242911 - or contact via main switchboard 01387 860251