04 Dec 2023
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14 Dec 2023
Greater Manchester Skills Experience Day Returns for a Third Year
Greater Manchester’s future workforce was inspired on 12th December 2023 as the Young Person Employability Partnership: Sharing Skills for Life event returned for a third year.
Organised by pharmaceutical company, Boehringer Ingelheim, in collaboration with Health Innovation Manchester, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA and CoDevelop Consulting the annual event is designed to support young people to develop the soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace.
With attendance from the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, workshops were held to focus on the diverse careers within the UK life sciences sector. Additionally, these sessions aimed to teach students about resilience, self-awareness, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and understanding different personality types, helping to equip them with a basic understanding of the workplace when they come to seek employment.
The event aligns with Greater Manchester’s goal to be the first integrated technical education city-region and also promotes a sense of choice for local young people by creating a clear line of sight to technical employment opportunities.
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “Quality skills are at the core of a fairer, greener, more prosperous Greater Manchester and in a post-pandemic, post-Brexit world, it is more important than ever that the education, skills and work system connects our people and businesses to opportunity.
“The annual skills day is a perfect example of how this is happening in practice to create clear pathways to technical education and employment for our young people, which are equally regarded and understood as the existing traditional university route.
“Bringing knowledgeable leaders from key industries like life sciences directly to our young people is a fantastic way for them to gain rich, real-time insights while also allowing employers to be proactive in creating a skills system that is fit-for-purpose, responsive to the challenges they face.”
In a collaborative effort spanning three years, Health Innovation Manchester, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Boehringer Ingelheim have redefined partnership dynamics by offering students insights into an industry brimming with innovation and showing the different paths they can take in the future as well as helping them to develop skills they might not use until they start employment.
Vicky Bertenshaw, Industry Engagement Lead, Health Innovation Manchester, added: “At Health Innovation Manchester we depend on innovations and technology within healthcare to improve our NHS, working closely with clinicians, academics and communities to discover, develop and deploy these innovations to make a real difference in patient lives. It’s important that we also focus on the skills and experiences of future generations, embedding innovation and an entrepreneurial mindset into their daily working lives, to help us to continue to achieve this in the future. The Young Person’s Employability Partnership provides an excellent example of collaborating with other industries and partners in new ways to ensure that we achieve this aim together.”
Young Person Employability Partnership
The Young Person Employability Partnership is an initiative forming part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s Sustainable Development – For Generations framework, designed to deliver long-term improvements across healthcare, communities and the environment. It demonstrates Boehringer Ingelheim’s continued commitment to supporting vulnerable communities by empowering employees and partnerships.
Orchestrated by Health Innovation Manchester, Greater Manchester’s academic health science system, the Young Person Employability Partnership: Sharing Skills for Life curates a bespoke pre-employment, programme of learning to provide insight and life skills from a leading, global commercial life sciences organisation to support Greater Manchester college’s students.