Amicus, the BPIF and Vision in Print are all throwing their weight behind plans to establish a UK Print Academy. Proskills, the sector skills council, is also engaged in lobbying the Government to fund the project.
"Training is in a dire state," said BPIF chief executive Michael Johnson. "Of 27 colleges providing training in 2002, only seven remain. These failed because they did not offer courses that fit employers' needs."
"We're not marketing the industry to universities and schools sufficiently," said Amicus assistant secretary general Tony Burke. "We can't compete with emerging global markets on lower wage costs, but we can on skills."
His words come as Leicester College unveils its Foundation Degree in Print and Media Production and Management (FdA) and Heidelberg and the London College of Communications (LCC) announce plans to launch the UK's first MA in print media management.
The corporate-sponsored 45-week LCC course will take on 12 postgraduate students this Easter. The Leicester College School of Print's FdA course will begin in 2006.
Industry drives for better training
Around 150 MPs, printers and Amicus representatives gathered together at the House of Commons last week to challenge the Government to deliver improvements in print industry training.
