David Bland, director of relationship management, CW PrintWe do need higher education courses and the fact that the London College of Communication (LCC) has suspended its print courses is indicative of the current state of the print industry. People are concentrating on maintaining their businesses in the worst trading conditions ever. As a result, training is not always high up on the agenda, although many printers have launched their own training schemes. The LCC has not had a truly technical print course for some time, it offers mainly computer-based design courses. Perhaps LCC will change its name to London University Devoid of Industrial Training and Education, or ‘LUDITE’ for short.

Bernard Rutter, SSC co-ordinator, Unite
The decision by the LCC is no surprise – it’s just part of the evolution of how we deliver training. The system of learning has changed and, over the past five to six years, we have been losing colleges. The problem is that most further education colleges did not have the appropriate output – getting the right equipment in is expensive. Now, we are getting more learning centres within a company and getting all sides working together. It is a tripartite of college, company and union. The launch of the Proskills Academy should be the missing piece between the unions and the companies.

Richard Moore, printing industry champion, Proskills
It’s important not to extrapolate this bad news into general gloom that there’s no training in print, because there are obviously lots of NVQs around and new qualifications are being developed all the time. That said, I believe higher education is still important for print because it teaches the kind of management skills that allow companies to further develop their business. The industry needs people who are innovators and they’re not just going to appear without investing in them. It’s vital that we continue to invest in the future of the industry.