Pounds 5 million for Scottish University for Industry

Scottish Enterprise has unveiled a Pounds 160 million action plan to establish Scotland as a leading "learning nation", writes Olga Wojtas.

The Scottish Enterprise Network aims to ensure that 60 per cent of the Scottish workforce are involved in ongoing training or skills development by 2010. Its new skills blueprint, Know How - Achieving Prosperity Through Learning, will plough Pounds 5 million into Scotland's new University for Industry, backed by more than 100 on-line learning centres across the country.

It expects more than 3,000 people to have an Individual Learning Account by March 2000, with a new Scottish Labour Market Unit giving up-to-date information to help both industry and education plan for the future.

Evelyn McCann, director of skills development at Scottish Enterprise, said:

"Scotland must do more to invest in skills and learning if we are to become one of the world's best-performing economies. Know How gives us the launch pad to achieve that vision."