It's a subject that's troubling everyone from industry leaders in Greater Manchester to the likes of Major Tim Peake and Carol Vorderman.
How does the UK bridge the shortfall of some 170,000 workers in so-called STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) jobs which will be needed in the coming years to tackle some of society's biggest challenges, like climate change?
Though they're approaching it from different directions, Riffat Wall, the principal at Urmston Grammar School in Greater Manchester and Carl Ennis, Chief Executive Officer of technology giant Siemens' Great Britain and Ireland division, are both determined to do something about the problem. Read more: "The Government has rewarded chaos and failure": Anger in Greater Manchester as Avanti handed new six-month rail contract Mr Ennis grew up in Rochdale and started his career in engineering, leaving school at the age of 16 for an apprenticeship before eventually going on to complete an engineering degree with the help of his employer at the time.
He is now a senior executive at a global firm which employs more than 300,000 people around the world and has a market value of around £75bn.
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