Engineering increases in popularity
1 min read
A report today (1 December) painted a promising picture for engineering in the current political and economic climate, showing that eight out of 10 people would now be willing to recommend an engineering career to family and friends.
The 2009/10 report from EngineeringUK, – from today, the new name for the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) – also demonstrates that, despite a short-term fall in engineering vacancies, engineering salaries have increased 2.2 % this year. In addition, long term demand for engineers remains high, with a need to recruit over half a million (587, 000) manufacturing workers with state-of the-art-skills by 2017.
However, the sector still faced several key challenges in terms of supply, said EngineeringUK.
There had been a 30% decrease in Further Education (FE) lecturers in engineering and manufacturing – perhaps linked to a shortage of advanced engineering skills – a 17 % drop in the number of Higher Education students going into production and manufacturing engineering degrees, and only 11.6 % of registered engineers were female.
EngineeringUK chief executive Paul Jackson (pictured) said: "There has never been a more crucial time for engineering. With eight out of 10 people willing to recommend engineering careers to family and friends, we now have a real window of opportunity to persuade the wider world of the benefits and rewards they can bring. In order to do this however, we must first address a number of challenges, not least increasing the number of Further Education lecturers in engineering, and improving perceptions of engineering and manufacturing both across the gender divide."
"At EngineeringUK we believe engineers will play a key role in addressing the global challenges of the 21st Century, and we will work tirelessly to ensure this is the case, improving careers information, advice and guidance, and perceptions of engineering overall."
