Government wants more graduate jobs in marine energy

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has announced plans to create about 1,500 graduate placements to help support marine energy projects while the Carbon Trust has also announced funding for the sector.

In a speech last week at the Universities UK annual conference in Edinburgh, David Lammy, minister of state for higher education, announced the new graduate placements and said they would be targeted at the low-carbon marine energy sector.

"I'm very pleased to be able to announce today the creation of up to 1,500 more placement opportunities in a new Graduate Low Carbon Future Leaders scheme, " said Lammy.

"Initially, these will help support the low-carbon marine energy industry in the south west of England and the low-carbon vehicle industry in the North East. The scheme will benefit graduates by giving them hands-on experience and improving their job readiness in an emerging sector of the economy where future job growth is predicted."

The scheme should see graduates working with businesses to help raise awareness of technological developments and new business opportunities.

The lack of skills and trained graduates coming through has been a worry to many in the industry.