Profession called to action on securing the future of engineering

The UK will need more than a million new engineers and technicians by 2020 and EngineeringUK research shows this will require a doubling of the number of annual engineering graduates and apprentices, said the RAE. "This will require a step change in the effort to attract young people into the engineering and it must start with co-ordinated, inspiring messaging to the public that truly captures the real nature and breadth of engineering in the 21st century." Dame Sue Ion DBE FREng, chair of the working group that produced the report, added: "As engineers underpin an increasing number of different parts of the economy and society, the engineering community and professional engineering institutions must adapt to represent and support those in both traditional and non-traditional engineering roles. "The engineering profession now has a critical opportunity to identify and put into place a framework for the new model of engineering, with its increasing inter-disciplinarity and pervasive reach." The report's recommendations to PEIs and policymakers include developing a dynamic set of images and messaging to inspire and excite, casting the net wider to bring people into the profession and developing them at all levels from apprentice to chartered, and working with government to develop employment statistics and measures of economic activity that reflect more properly the role of engineering. It also said PEIS should work with government to drive improvement in careers guidance and improve opportunities in engineering for women and those from underrepresented social and ethnic groups.