School-Industry Links

One of the primary aims of Discover Chemistry is to deliver an enriched UK-based talent stream of motivated and suitably skilled scientists that will address the future recruitment needs of industry. To do this we must actively enable students to investigate and interact with the chemical industry and experience what it has to offer.

To promote school-industry collaborations, Discover Chemistry will collaborate with Chemicals Northwest and Business Education Matters Ltd (BEM). This project, developed through BEM, is called the Collaboration of Schools & Industry Science for Life, or CoSI (S4L) and involves developing an ongoing partnership that directly supports the science courses in the individual school/college and relates to the science in their local industry partner.

It includes teacher placements into industry, industry-related work in school/college for students, student visits to industry and an effective cascade process of the older students working with younger students. One student visit to industry can thus impact positively on over 60 students.

BEM identifies suitable industries and encourages them to work with schools/colleges, sets up and enables the necessary meetings between interested schools/colleges and industries, and subsequently supports these ongoing partnerships and manages the project as a whole.

"The younger students saw excellent role models in the older students who are doing the course that some of them plan to do next year." Teacher

"It is a relatively easy means of working with local schools to promote our company and the chemical industry more widely." Industrialist

Discover Chemistry has highlighted this project in an effort to encourage other regions to adopt a similar approach. Discover Chemistry are part-funding the Chemicals Northwest CoSI (S4L) programme in 2009-10 and would like to expand the CoSI (S4L) programme across a much wider area and encourage other regions to participate in this or similar industrial outreach programmes.

Individual secondary schools & post-16/FE colleges, industries and other network organisations interested in attracting funding for the CoSI (S4L) programme (i.e. using BEM's resources and expertise) or similar industrial outreach programmes are encouraged to submit a short proposal demonstrating how school/college-industry relationships would be formed in your area and how each party could benefit from working together. These proposals will be considered for initial funding.

To discuss possible BEM involvement in your area and prepare a joint proposal, please contact Jane Gamble, Director, BEM

For more information on the collaboration, please contact Lorna Thomson, Project Officer, Discover Chemistry.