Mott MacDonald and Birmingham City University are to enter a partnership to teach construction students how to problems solve and to develop people skills.
A partnership between engineering consultancy company Mott MacDonald and Birmingham City University will help construction students to develop people skills and learn to solve problems.
The course, which starts in September, is currently taking students via clearing. Mott MacDonald and Birmingham City University said the initiative was needed and would “pioneering a new approach to develop the ‘softer skills’ considered to be in short supply across the construction industry.”
Discussing the partnership, Birmingham City University’s Professor Nick Morton said: “Students securing places at the University’s School of the Built Environment will have the opportunity to gain direct experience of both construction and people skills with Mott MacDonald in Birmingham’s projects around the UK.
“The construction industry needs problem solvers with the skills to enable them to develop the talents of others and to recognise their own strengths for future opportunities.”
Divisional Director for Mott MacDonald Martin Perks said: “We have great people in our industry with superb technical skills but that is only part of the picture.
“We know too that the softer skills increasingly needed to develop people’s potential and solve problems as they arise are in short supply.
“Our business is growing rapidly and through our ground-breaking partnership with Birmingham City University we are seeking to attract and nurture the ‘next generation’ of talent into a fulfilling and rewarding career with our company.”