March 20, 2006—ConstructionSkills, the Sector Skills Council for the UK construction industry, has found that university applications to combined architecture, building, and planning courses are up 50.1%, civil engineering courses up 2.2%, architecture up 0.7%, and building courses up 0.5%. The increase in these and other vocational courses comes as overall university applications are down 3.4%.
Ruth Cass, a ConstructionSkills spokesperson commented, “Construction is an industry that has a host of opportunities for professional and technically qualified people: we want 23,500 more people in such roles each year between now and 2008. Our industry has opportunities as 117,500 new positions will be created by planned and new projects.”
In order to help those applying for courses in the industry, ConstructionSkills has launched a 1 million grant program for undergraduates called Inspire Scholarships. In addition, the construction employers who have contributed to the program have committed to offering 10-week summer placements, with other placement options.
