Manufacturing NI was represented at a recent stakeholder engagement session convened by the Northern Ireland Assembly All-Party Group on Skills and facilitated by The Open University.
The session brought together employers, trade unions, education and training providers, learner representatives, professional bodies and organisations involved in workforce development and lifelong learning. The discussion will help inform skills policy and party manifestos ahead of the 2027 Northern Ireland Assembly election.
Against the backdrop of reductions to skills funding, participants raised concerns about the potential impact on workforce development, apprenticeships, adult learning and economic growth. The discussion also looked beyond the immediate funding pressures to consider the longer-term changes needed to create a more responsive and sustainable skills system.
Manufacturing NI took a proactive role in ensuring that the needs of manufacturers and particularly the importance of skills development and apprenticeships remained firmly on the table. With manufacturers continuing to experience difficulties recruiting people with the right technical and practical capabilities, it is essential that employers have a strong voice in shaping future provision.
Six areas of broad agreement emerged:
- Skills should be treated as a Programme for Government priority, requiring coordinated action across departments.
- Reducing economic inactivity and supporting more people into sustainable employment must be central objectives.
- Skills require stable, long-term investment and planning rather than short-term funding cycles.
- Lifelong learning, including flexible upskilling and reskilling opportunities, must become a core part of the system.
- Northern Ireland must prepare for changing workforce requirements arising from artificial intelligence, digital transformation, green technologies and productivity challenges.
- A shared long-term vision is needed, with clearer pathways between learning, apprenticeships and employment and stronger alignment between provision and employer demand.
For Manufacturing NI, the discussion reinforced the need for an employer-led approach to skills planning. Apprenticeships, technical education and accessible opportunities for existing employees to upskill and reskill will be vital to improving productivity, supporting business growth and building a sustainable manufacturing workforce.
Manufacturing NI will continue to engage proactively with policymakers, employers and education providers to ensure that skills and apprenticeships remain central to the policy debate ahead of the 2027 Assembly election and that the voice of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing sector is reflected in future decisions.