Composites Curriculum Development: tackling the skills gap in UK advanced composites

Abstract

The aim of this project is to generate an industrially relevant and academically rigorous curriculum which could be deployed to tackle the significant skills gap in composites professionals, vital for delivering on the UK’s National Composite Strategy and allowing the industry to grow to its full potential, forecast by the Composites Leadership Forum to grow by a factor of 5 by 2030. A Masters’ level curriculum of short, industrially focused units has been specified and a small number of trial units developed. Engagement of academics in this novel collaborative curriculum development, utilising each institution’s expertise, has been very good and feedback from industry and participants in pilot units has been positive. Consortium participants are investigating numerous options for developing this further and have begun to put plans in place for the next stage.