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.
