Environmental Scan 2017 | Page 27

Environmental Scan 2017: Human Capital Issues within the Medical Devices Sector D. Workforce Training System for the Medical Devices Industry Currently, 25% of the surgical/medical gloves manufacturers, 46% of other medical consumables companies and 43% of the non-consumables companies do not have any form of collaboration with training institutions. Even for those companies with some form of collaboration, such collaboration is usually unstructured and somewhat informal. Industry participations in the review of curriculum/development of training program are quite low (see Appendix 3.4 for further information). In addition to that, the awareness of NOSS and its function is very low among the industry players at the moment. In order to ensure that the critical occupation needs of MedDev industry are addressed, stakeholders from industry (with industry associations taking the lead), training / academic institutions and the relevant accreditation authorities shall work together to: i) Identify and assess the qualifications and competencies associated with the critical occupations by using NOSS as a basis  The curriculum and training packages associated with these qualifications or competencies shall be aligned and evaluated on a regular basis (recommended every 2 years)  Where the NOSS or MQA description is only partially applicable or not available, the existing procedures for integrating or developing new ones should be jointly undertaken ii) Improve coordination among stakeholders for the following activities  Revise or develop new curriculum and training packages  Expand or create structured new apprenticeship / internship / attachment schemes  Agree on a programme for an exchange of instructors between industry and training entities 27