Princess Yachts

In the sophisticated world of luxury boating, Princess Yachts is one of the most prestigious names around. With over 40 years experience in the business, an annual turnover in excess of £150 million and even a plug in the Bond film ‘The World is Not Enough’ to its name, the Plymouth-based company is a boat-building powerhouse and one of the modern UK marine industry’s biggest success stories.

The company is now putting its weight behind a groundbreaking industry-linked qualification for 14 to 19 year olds which it believes will help to inspire a new generation to take up the mantle of manufacturing excellence in the UK. HR Director, Eugene Van Jaarsveldt has been signed up as an official employer champion for the Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design (MPD), a role which will see him work to encourage other companies and industry figures to actively support the Diploma by getting involved in how it is taught in schools and colleges.

“The beauty of this Diploma is that it has been designed to give young people a realistic understanding of the world of work while they are still in full time education,” said Eugene. “It will, for want of a better phrase, give them an alternative to the traditional routes through education, one which leans more towards the needs of industry rather than academia, giving students a solid grounding in skills and knowledge they will find useful in their future careers.”

Designed by a partnership of employers and the five Sector Skills Councils responsible for training and skills across all manufacturing industries, the Diploma in MPD will be taught by partnerships, or consortia, of schools, colleges and manufacturing companies. The involvement of businesses is seen as crucial to give students the most accurate impression possible of the realities of industry, including applying the knowledge and skills they learn to real-life scenarios. Employers will be able to get involved in a number of different ways, from offering work placements and hosting site visits to setting topics for projects and keeping teachers and tutors up to date with industry trends.

“There are some very obvious benefits to employers getting involved with young people ”, continued Eugene. “At Princess Yachts, we invest heavily in the future by engaging with young people early so we can inspire them to consider a career in our industry. I am keen that being involved in the delivery of the Diploma becomes part of that strategy, but in the meantime we already take around 20 school pupils on work experience every year, and we have an Apprenticeship programme, which recruits a similar number of young people. Wherever possible we try to link the two, so if we see someone who shows enthusiasm and promise on work experience, we will look at offering them an apprenticeship. It is a very focused approach, with an Apprenticeship often leading on to team leadership, and team leadership on to management. So you could say we are thinking about the future leadership of our company right from when we first take youngsters on work experience aged 15 or 16.

“We currently have around 60 apprentices out of a total staff of around 2000, which is a large percentage. We have invested a lot of time and money in developing this approach, but we are very confident that it will reap the rewards. The younger we can engage with tomorrow’s workforce, the more chance we have to influence their career choice in the direction of manufacturing. And the more direct contact we have in terms of training and educating, the better equipped our future workforce will be to raise performance and build on our success in a competitive market. It is all about nurturing talent, which the Diploma in MPD gives all companies the opportunity to do.”

The Diploma in Manufacturing and Product Design is being introduced as part of the second wave of 17 new Diplomas which will be available to all school pupils in England by 2013. It will be available at three levels – Foundation, Higher and Advanced. It is intended to open up a variety of progression routes to participating students, including employment, Apprenticeships, Further and Higher Education.

All students taking the Diploma in MPD will study business and management, materials science and product design, and production and processing as core topics or ‘Principal Learning’. Additional and Specialist Learning options will allow students to choose from a range of vocational manufacturing qualifications, GCSEs and A levels to supplement their principal learning. This will be further complemented by work experience, an extended project, and assessment in functional skills in English, maths and IT, as well as employability skills such as self-management, team working and reflective learning.