Stuart Nathan

SMEs likely to see the largest need for graduate recruitment

In-Depth

Enrollment to engineering degrees in the UK is healthy, but the skills gap is complex and some sectors are finding it harder to recruit graduates than others, especially in the supply chain SMEs. Andrew Czyzewski reports

Given the rhetoric that surrounds advanced and high-value manufacturing every time a new investment or ‘centre of excellence’ is announced, you might be forgiven for thinking that the UK has an unassailable lead when it comes to emerging technologies.

While the country has always punched above its weight, there’s obviously huge competition to become world leaders in things like low-carbon vehicles, renewable energy generation, satellites and medical devices to name a few key trends.

Arguably, the deciding factor will be people.

Engineering UK estimates that in the next 5-10 years the UK will need at least 2 million addition engineers to be in the hunt.

‘Industry could do more if they did have more of the right skilled people,’ said the organisation’s Chief Executive Paul Jackson. ‘The number of engineering graduates coming out of the University as a proportion [of all graduates] is significantly smaller than it is in countries like Germany and way smaller than countries like Korea and China.’

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