Universities join alliance to tackle semiconductor ‘skills gap’

Global universities have joined a new alliance aimed at strengthening the pipeline of workers with expertise in semiconductors.

The Semiconductor Education Alliance is being coordinated by Arm, the Cambridge-headquartered chip-making giant, which warned that the sector was “at a tipping point when it comes to the skills gap”, with a “clear mismatch” between the abilities that employers want and those held by university graduates.

Founding members include, in the US, Cornell University; in Europe, Anglia Ruskin University, the University of Southampton and the Polytechnic University of Valencia; and in Asia, the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur.

Arm said alliance members would develop online courses and open educational resources, create accelerated qualification pathways, and develop competency frameworks tailored to the needs of specific geographies.

The move comes amid a growing global arms race over semiconductors, which are essential components of modern electronic devices.

The US has added Chinese chipmakers to trade blacklists and has sought to block the export of chip manufacturing technology to the rival superpower. China, in response, has ramped up its efforts to train home-grown semiconductor experts.

Among other players, the European Union has ambitions to significantly increase its share of the semiconductor market, and South Korea has relaxed recruitment caps in a bid to train an additional 150,000 people with semiconductor expertise over the next 10 years.

Gary Campbell, Arm’s executive vice-president for central engineering, said that while there were already many high-quality educational programmes focused on semiconductors, “we believe the industry is at a tipping point when it comes to the skills gap, and more cohesive, industry-wide action is required to truly have an impact”.

“The Semiconductor Education Alliance aims to better align the industry around common goals, shared resources, and communities of best practice to tackle the skills gap that threatens progress today,” Mr Campbell said.

Arm said both Cornell and Anglia Ruskin were developing online courses designed to tackle the skills gap. Southampton will host a community of practice platform for teachers and researchers.

Among other partners, the Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute is developing training courses and a machine learning platform for academia, and the All-India Council for Technical Education is planning to run an “inventors challenge” for faculty and students.

Khaled Benkrid, the firm’s senior director for education and research, said there was “a clear mismatch between the knowledge, skills and abilities [KSAs] needed by the semiconductor and wider tech industries and what is being produced by HEIs [higher education institutions]”.

“The current education framework is largely predicated on a relatively stable job skills map and assumes a large student intake every year over a typical five-year period. Such relative stability warrants and funds a large initial, but subsequently infrequent, investment in curriculum development and training. However, we know that these assumptions are no longer valid,” said Dr Benkrid, formerly an associate professor in electronic engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

“Looking at software and system engineering, for instance, we know that the skills required will significantly change in the next five years, largely due to the rise of emerging technologies like AI.

“This requires a greater understanding of the skills that are needed in the semiconductor industry, which can then be fed rapidly into what is taught at schools and HEIs. We also need greater flexibility across education systems and industry training programmes worldwide to adapt learning programmes and adopt these feedback and insights from industry KSA requirements.”

Arm said it was also committed to supporting technical, vocational and self-study pathways into the semiconductor sector, with activity also expected to focus on internships, apprenticeships and free online courses.

Mark Spearing, vice-president for research and enterprise at Southampton, said the university was “delighted” to join the initiative.

“The alliance’s goals of creating a global community of practice, promoting the sharing of knowledge and developing the skills we need to build a better, more sustainable and inclusive world are goals we share in common, and we look forward to addressing these shared challenges,” he said.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com