This is the message from Nigel Fine, Chief Executive of The Institute of Engineering and Technology (The IET.)
The message comes amid a growing concern that fewer young people are now considering Engineering as a career path.
More needs to be done to encourage young people to join an exciting and dynamic industry. Unfortunately the value of engineering is greatly under estimated and more needs to be done to raise awareness what engineering is and the diversity it can offer.
The opportunities available in engineering are greatly underestimated by the school career services who do not seem to be promoting the benefits of engineering as a career to pupils of all abilities.
Schools are focussed on obtaining a university career path for their pupils when an apprenticeship route is as equally valuable as a degree. University is not suited to every pupil, there is increasing interest in vocational hands-on courses and a growing range of vocational subjects are now being offered alongside traditional subjects.
The future career path of each pupil is important, and it is important to engage with pupils and instil a passion for engineering before the age of 14 when subject choices are made. Unfortunately the engineering profession is greatly under valued and is not promoted enough within schools. There has been concern raised about the lack of teaching of subjects such as computer science, programming and more challenging aspects of ICT to pupils under the age of 14.
For pupils with an interest of entering the engineering profession, there is a wide variety of routes available for study. There is a mix of both vocational and academic courses which a pupil could pursue according to their own abilities and future career plans. The key point made is that engineering is a profession which is open to all abilities and an equally successful career can be made from entering the profession from both vocational or academic backgrounds.
With the jobs market becoming increasingly competitive, it is interesting to note that there is a huge workforce shortage in the engineering sector. The workforce is growing older and unfortunately are not being replaced by young people entering the profession. This will have a future negative impact on the UK economy as well as resulting in an increasing skills gap.
With the cost of a university education increasing and graduates often leaving university with no job at the end, there comes an urgent call to school curriculum advisers and school careers services to promote a career in engineering and ensure the quality of courses and education matches the needs of the engineering sector. With the absence of more challenging aspects in important subjects such as ICT, there no engagement nor reasons for pupils to actively pursue engineering – an industry which offers huge flexibility and opportunity for all abilities and huge job potential for all candidates.
Technical learning opportunities need to be made available for anyone who wishes to pursue them.