A quarter of UK universities, including some of the most prestigious institutions in the country, have signed up to an initiative to boost the working prospects of technicians in ÖйúAƬ.

The ¡°Technician Commitment¡±, a sector-wide collaboration led by the Science Council and supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation¡¯s ¡°Technicians Make It Happen¡± campaign, aims to ¡°ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in ÖйúAƬ and research¡±, and pledges action to address the five challenges affecting university technical staff.

So far, 36 universities and research institutions have signed the commitment ¨C launched on 31 May at the ÖйúAƬ Technicians Summit at the University of Warwick ¨C including two-thirds of the Russell Group. It follows a recent drive by the Science Council to introduce professional recognition across the sector as a means of benchmarking standards within the academy.

Abigail Mortimer, chief scientific glassblower in the University of York¡¯s department of chemistry, told Times ÖйúAƬ?that it was a good thing that universities were committed to recognising the skill of the technical staff, who, albeit not necessarily deliberately, ¡°possibly do get taken for granted¡±.

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¡°This is a recognition that things have to change,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s a commitment from universities to recognise technicians, to recognise the shortfall in technicians, and [making] a commitment to changing that.

¡°Those changes certainly aren¡¯t going to happen instantly because there would be an element of doing an assessment of the skill set you have within a university, assessing where the shortfalls are and then addressing them.¡±

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The commitment notes how important highly skilled technicians are in providing ¡°the technical expertise essential to supporting research and knowledge transfer¡±.

The commitment acknowledges that, despite their importance, technicians have not been well-recognised and career and professional development has been ¡°overlooked¡±. It adds that the ¡°ageing technical workforce also means that large numbers of highly-skilled technicians are retiring every year. The UK now faces an identified shortage of technicians."

Ms Mortimer said that ¡°addressing the shortfalls¡± was imperative for the sector, after signing the commitment.

¡°I think because technicians are highly skilled, if someone moves away from that, it¡¯s hard to recruit those skills back,¡± she said. ¡°In some areas, they haven¡¯t been recruited back.¡±

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Sir David Greenaway, vice-chancellor of the University of Nottingham, said technicians were ¡°absolutely fundamental¡± to ÖйúAƬ and those institutions that did not deliver on their commitment would risk losing ¡°credibility within your own workforce¡±.

¡°They [technicians] probably haven¡¯t had the visibility they deserve,¡± he said. ¡°[We need to] ensure that we¡¯re investing appropriately in them as individuals and as a workforce just as we do with our teaching and research staff.¡±

Tim Softley, pro vice-chancellor for research and knowledge transfer at the University of Birmingham, conceded that at an institutional level ¡°it does feel like we¡¯re coming to this late in the day¡±.

¡°One of the other big issues we face as universities is sustaining the flow of people into these jobs,¡± he said. ¡°We need to make sure the conditions are right for them, that there¡¯s a career structure, opportunities for developing their careers, and opportunities to move more between universities and industry.¡±

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john.elmes@timeshighereducation.com