Skills strategy puts Northern Ireland on course for future growth

Graeme Wilkinson, FCA, talks to Accountancy Ireland about his plans and priorities as a key figure in the development and roll-out of the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland

The recent launch of the Green Skills Action Plan marked the latest step in the evolution of the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland, launched in 2022 by The Department for the Economy.

A key pillar of the Department’s wider Economic Vision for Northern Ireland, the Skills Strategy sets out a framework for the development of the region’s skills system up to 2030.

It aims to increase further education qualifications in technical and professional skills and rebalance higher education in favour of science, technology, engineering and maths.

For Graeme Wilkinson, Director of Skills at the Department for the Economy, the Green Skills Action Plan exemplifies the collaborative approach at the heart of the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland.

Developed in conjunction with an industry-led expert working group, the Action Plan provides a framework to guide government, employers and educators in the delivery of green skills and jobs for the future.

“As with all programmes and initiatives launched under our Skills Strategy, our aim is to equip individuals with the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly evolving job market,” Wilkinson explains.

“It is about aligning our skills pipeline with the needs of businesses on the ground in Northern Ireland. Actively collaborating with these businesses to identify and address their skills needs is central to the work we do.”

Collaboration for impact

This collaborative approach is particularly important to Wilkinson, who was appointed Director of Skills at the Department for the Economy in 2019 to lead the development of the Skills Strategy.

“We recognise that skills development is extremely important for the economy in Northern Ireland and that access to the right skills is the single biggest issue impacting many businesses right across the economy,” he says.

“Most important for me is the collaborative element of the strategy; bringing all the key players together—businesses, other parts of Government and our academic partners—to make sure it will deliver positive outcomes.

“You can see this in our industry-led expert working group on the Green Skills Action Plan. One of the actions identified in our Skills Strategy at the very outset was the need to focus on greater participation from the business community.”

The Department for the Economy established the Northern Ireland Skills Council in 2023 as a channel for effective engagement between government, business and the education sectors in the development and delivery of skills policy.

The Council provides Government with strategic advice on skills development in line with immediate and emerging labour demands.

“No matter which business you talk to, labour supply is an issue. Our role is to support and help the different sectors in our business community meet their own skills needs,” Wilkinson says.

“The sector-based approach ensures that, no matter where people are in their learning journey, there is a pathway available to them. No matter their age, or the career stage they have reached, we want to support them to enhance and improve their skill set.”

Labour supply: challenging market

According to The Northern Ireland Skills Barometer 20232033, the workforce in Northern Ireland will likely grow to about one million jobs by 2033 with the creation of 79,000 new roles.

Published in February 2025 by the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, the barometer found that demographic trends and the structure of the labour market suggested potential for future skills undersupply across all qualification levels.

It predicted a shortfall of 5,400 individuals per year needed to fill vacancies under a high-growth scenario in Northern Ireland over the next decade.

“From a demographic perspective, the challenge we face is that we don’t have enough young people coming into our labour market to meet demand from employers and just 16.7 percent of our working age population is engaged in lifelong learning,” Wilkinson says.

“This situation requires us to come up with innovative solutions to our skills needs in partnership with our business community. It is a holistic approach with a focus on upskilling people who are both in work and out of work and also supporting employers to attract and retain people with the skills they need.”

Skills strategy solutions

The Department for the Economy launched Skill Up in 2021. The programme funds further and higher education providers in the delivery of accredited training for in-demand skills, such as green technologies, advanced manufacturing and engineering, and health and life sciences.

“Skill Up offers a suite of short-term skills interventions, most less than 12 weeks in duration and available to do online free of charge to participants,” Wilkinson says.

“Its aim is to make upskilling and reskilling as accessible as possible to people in and out of work, and we have had a lot of success with it, with over 30,000 participants to date.”

In addition, the Department funds Assured Skills Academies—short, demand-led, pre-employment training courses, in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland.

“We also support collaborative industry-led networks whereby companies in a particular sector can come together to develop the skills to create jobs and improve their competitiveness collectively,” Wilkinson says.

One such network is Manufacturing and Engineering Growth and Advancement (MEGA), a cluster of companies in Mid-Ulster, which aims to promote the manufacturing and engineering sector as a source of high-value, long-term employment.

MEGA has partnered with Ulster University to establish Northern Ireland’s first degree-level apprenticeship in manufacturing and engineering.

Funded by the Department for the Economy, the four-year programme offers an alternative to the traditional degree route, placing participating apprentices in employment from the outset.

“Programmes like this work particularly well because they open up avenues to higher level education for people who might not otherwise be able to access it, while also addressing the real and immediate needs of industry,” Wilkinson says.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of his role is, he says, the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremonies of the participants in such programmes.

“I get to see how the interventions I have helped to design and deliver are changing people’s lives for the better, and to engage with businesses to help them grow and become bigger and better,” he says.

Public service: power of positive impact

For Wilkinson, who began his career in practice, it was the opportunity to make such “positive impacts” that attracted him to public service.

“After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant, I moved into management consultancy with Deloitte and found I really enjoyed working on big change programmes and making a difference,” he says.

“But at a certain point, I realised I really wanted to get inside government; to be at the heart of change that could impact citizens’ lives for the better and deliver positive outcomes.”

After joining the Department for Employment and Learning in 2003 as Head of Finance, Wilkinson went on to hold numerous senior roles in the Northern Ireland Civil Service spanning employment and learning, regional development and agriculture, the environment and rural affairs.

“I’ve had wonderful opportunities to work in some fantastic change programmes, such as water reform, prison reform, the modernisation of the Department of Agriculture and, indeed, leading the EU exit process,” he says.

“My role today is extremely varied. Working in the public sector as a Chartered Accountant is a really exciting place to be.

“The roles on offer are so varied; there is a lot of opportunity. You can work in accounts, policy, change programmes, accounts, risk management, corporate governance—the list goes on.

“I’ve had wonderful opportunities to deliver large-scale change programmes in innovative ways.

“What has guided me throughout my career is my integrity and my training as a Chartered Accountant. Particularly in the public sector, people value your integrity and see you as someone that will always do the right thing.”