Environmental Technologies
The south west is home to the UK's first commercial wind farm, the first commercial centralised anaerobic digestion plan, the UK's first pyrolysis plant and the world's first permanent off-shore tidal energy turbine.
University expertise is helping to ensure that the region is first for supporting the growth of environmental technologies through leading research and consultancy, high quality training and development, business focussed students and laboratories and renewable test beds.
South west universities' expertise in environmental technology and the level of skills in such businesses is very high, with approximately 80% of companies employing graduates and over half employing post graduates.
Skills shortages
A quarter of businesses in this sector report skills gaps. These represent opportunities for graduates - it stands to reason that if you develop the skills that are in short supply, you'll enhance your job prospects. The most common skills gaps are:
- Technical and job specific
- Team working
- Communication skills