Semiconductor Higher Technical Skills Academy Wales: Recruitment, Retention & Upskilling

威尔士曾经是世界上最大的优质无烟煤生产国。煤炭出口催生了加的夫和纽波特码头地区，外国投资者后来将海外业务停靠在这些地区，获得了该地区的低成本劳动力资源。1980年代煤矿工业崩溃后，数以千计的人，特别是南威尔士山谷的人，因健康和就业前景不佳而失业。在最新的人口普查数据中，威尔士的布列诺·格温特、朗达·西农塔夫和塔尔博特港的预期寿命仍然最低，比英国平均水平低五年。虽然煤炭开采让威尔士声名鹊起，但它留下的遗产是威尔士人的骄傲和痛苦。如今，威尔士的失业率仅为3.3%，低于英格兰，为50多年来的最低水平(BBC，2022)。然而，南威尔士山谷的经济不活跃率高达26%，而在截至2022年的一年里，英格兰的这一比例为17%(Stats Wales，2022)。目前的数据估计，南威尔士半导体行业需要3000个新工作岗位，KLA宣布在其位于纽波特的新工厂提供750个工作岗位。仅靠目前的毕业生供应不能满足需求；此外，目前的资格和培训举措不能满足职业技能要求。该行业将需要吸引来自不同背景和代表性不足的新人才，特别是南威尔士山谷经济不活跃的人才库，以解决这一短缺问题。该地区目前不存在主动将多样化和代表性不足的人才与更高技术的半导体职位相结合的倡议。威尔士半导体高级技术技能学院将寻求定义和填补威尔士快速增长的化合物半导体行业的关键高级技能缺口。该学院将举办一套短期、敏锐、灵活和密集的技能提升课程，以填补特定的技术技能差距，与半导体雇主和CS Connected合作设计，与iungo Solutions和Colegy Cymoedd(山谷学院)合作提供，并由威尔士最大的颁奖机构WJEC赞助。该项目寻求将煤炭开采时代的低成本劳动力市场转变为威尔士的高技能和高生产率的经济引擎。这将通过吸引南威尔士山谷经济不活跃的人口并提高他们在高科技半导体行业中的作用来实现。

Wales was once the world's largest producer of premium smokeless coal. The exporting of coal gave birth to the Cardiff and Newport docklands areas upon which inward investors later docked their overseas operations, accessing low-cost labour pools in the region. Following the collapse of the coal mining industry in the 1980s, thousands of people, especially those in the South Wales Valleys became unemployed with poor health and job prospects. In the latest census data, life expectancy remains lowest in Blaenau Gwent, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Neath Port Talbot throughout Wales, and is five years below the UK average. Whilst coal mining put Wales' on the map, its legacy is one of pride and suffering for Welsh people. Today, the unemployment rate in Wales is lower than in England at just 3.3%, its lowest rate in more than 50 years (BBC, 2022). However, the economic inactivity rate in the South Wales Valleys is as high as 26%, compared with 17% in England in the year ending 2022 (Stats Wales, 2022). Current figures estimate demand for 3,000 new jobs in the semiconductor industry in South Wales with KLA announcing 750 jobs at its new site in Newport. Demand cannot be serviced solely with the current supply of graduates; moreover vocational skills requirements are not being met with current qualifications and training initiatives. The industry will need to engage new talent from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds, and specifically the economically inactive talent pool in the South Wales Valleys to address the shortfall. No current initiatives exist within the region to actively align diverse and underrepresented talent to higher technical semiconductor roles. The Semiconductor Higher Technical Skills Academy Wales will seek to define and fill the key higher technical skills gaps in Wales' fast-growing compound semiconductor industry. The Academy will host a suite of short, sharp, flexible and intense upskilling programmes to plug specific technical skills gaps, designed in collaboration with semiconductor employers and CS Connected, delivered in partnership with iungo Solutions and Coleg y Cymoedd (College of the Valleys), and underwritten by Wales' largest awarding organisation, WJEC. This project seeks to transform the low-cost labour market of the coal mining era, into a high-skilled and high-productivity economic engine for Wales. This will be achieved by engaging and upskilling the economically inactive population of the South Wales Valleys for roles in the high-tech semiconductor industry.