AusBiotech supports the call for the federal government to develop a National Competency Framework for Australia, endorsing the ARCS Australia Workforce and Capacity Summit White Paper (the Paper).
ARCS Australia has recently released its Paper after consultation with industry partners, to identify strategies to enhance industry qualifications, training and experience in Australia’s high-performing biotech and medtech sector.
The Paper outlines the important opportunity for the sector to ensure the best standard of patient care, through skills that support sovereign manufacturing capacity, capability, and innovation, to drive growth creating jobs and exports.
In the Paper’s Foreword, ARCS Australia CEO Dr Shanny Dyer said, “There is an immense opportunity to capture the fruits of that innovation in a vibrant, research-based manufacturing industry with growing exports. This will bring opportunities for substantial, skilled employment and retain more of the value of the nation’s innovative research and development.”
ARCS Australia presents four recommendations in the Paper to enhance Australia’s biotech and medtech sector:
- Overwhelmingly, the participants called for the establishment of robust and comprehensive national competency standards for the key professions that service the industry. These standards should align with those already established in Australia and overseas and provide the elements of nationally consistent training programs.
- As the peak professional body for the research sector, industry-endorsed ARCS Australia to lead the development of a national training curriculum for the key professions, linked to the competency frameworks, and to engage with all stakeholders to facilitate its adoption.
- The industry sector should develop a stronger and more coordinated outreach via its peak bodies to tertiary institutions to increase awareness of the sector and the existing and emerging career opportunities. Furthermore, this outreach should extend to the provision of training (including micro–credentialing) that will facilitate the development of ‘job–ready’ entrants.
- ARCS Australia and its industry partners should take a more active role to engage with government policy in order to realise the economic development and employment opportunities identified by this summit in the areas of:
- Targeted manufacturing support specifically for mRNA, pharmaceutical ingredients and commercial fill and finish; and,
- A range of ecosystem support policies including: tax incentives, workforce and training policy and visa and immigration policy.
To download ARCS Australia’s Workforce and Capacity Summit White Paper, click here.