Information gap on sector
Feb 1 2008 by Sarah Judd, Evening Gazette
“MY boyfriend, who is from London, refers to Teesside’s industrial skyline as the fires of Mordor because it looks like something out of Lord of the Rings,” said Jane Swinbank, a 32-year old Fine Art student at Teesside University, who took part in our nebusiness poll on public perceptions of the chemical process.
It followed a national MORI survey, which said that, after years of struggling to escape a grim reputation, the industry had a better image now than the oil and petrol sectors - a crucial swing as it prepares to recruit 16,000 people over the next 10 years in the North East alone.
But our random poll among younger people on Teesside flagged up some significant issues.
Ms Swinbank was not the only one to say the process sector had been missed off her schools career counselling, despite growing up close to the industry’s heartland.
Mohamed Hafez moved to Teesside from Egypt for a university education and ended up taking a post production and visual effects degree. Although he sought careers advice in Middlesbrough before starting the course, jobs in the process sector were not promoted to him.
Wayne Burdett, 20, a PR student at Teesside, did not receive careers information on the industry, either, but said: “I don’t think I would have considered it anyway because I wanted to do something non-technical.”
Graham Clark, 21, a fine art student, was another who admitted he didn’t know enough about the process industries to consider a career with them.
Some still thought working in the process sector was a dirty, hazardous job. Student Simon Wilson, 19, said: “It wasn’t promoted to me as an option at school, but I wouldn’t have considered it anyway because I think it would be dangerous.”
The responses highlight the job ahead for the new Teesside based Skills Academy for the Process Industries if it is to promote the sector to young people.
There were signs, though, that the next generation were being targeted with a more positive image.
Forensic biology and crime scene science students Alison Dawson, 24 and Kris Senior, 23, were proud of Teesside’s industrial heritage and the contribution it makes to the UK economy. They believed the chemical engineering courses offered by Teesside University would encourage more graduates to stay in the area and even had a nostalgic fondness for the sector.
“It’s nice when you see the skyline of Wilton when you are travelling - you realise you’re home,” said Ms Dawson.
