Teesside fought long and hard to bring the £10m National Skills Academy for the Process Industries to the region. But that's just half the battle.

The organisation, up and running at Teesside University, must now work to meet the skills gap the process sector faces.

To sustain growth at current rates, the industry has a formidable appetite for skills with a predicted 48,000 recruits needed nationally by 2015.

Processing has been the jewel in the UK industry's crown for the past 10 years, demonstrating the fastest growth of any sector, attaining an average rate of 2.6% per annum.

Teesside was always the natural home for the skills academy, although it was by no means an odds-on certainty that the region would win it - the North-west very nearly pipped it to the post.

But the academy's arrival will elevate the area to the national and international stage as a centre for excellence, according to the North East Process Industry Cluster — NEPIC.

Teesside Hub

The business plan, which is still in development, has a pencilled-in target of 2011, by which time the academy needs to generate £1.5m annually from private enterprise to support its activities.

Already, the regional spokes are beginning to turn in the four outposts that will be in place by the end of the Academy's first year.

The Northeast, Yorkshire and Humber, the North-west and the Midlands, will have their own industry-led boards, reporting to the Teesside hub.

In year two, it aims to set up spokes in the South-east and East, the South-west and Wales, and Scotland and Northern Ireland.

"If we do not meet the skills gap, companies will move out," says the academy's chief executive Philip Jones.

"Most of them are internationally owned – they will simply take their business elsewhere."

Industry Gold Standard

The academy will work directly with employers to identify the skills gaps in their workforce.

It aims to develop an Industry Gold Standard to raise the aspirations of UK process industries employers and employees and will help companies 'upskill' their current employees through accreditation of their current skills and offering relevant new training opportunities.

It will work alongside training providers and education bodies to develop the highly skilled employees and develop a UKwide training infrastructure that better  supports the sector's needs.

It will also ensure process industry employers have the resources needed to continue developing the skills of their staff, and have access to appropriate funding, plus promote the process industries to potential and future employees.

And within five years it aims to have 170 accredited training centres in the UK.

Find out more from www.process.nsacademy.co.uk