Students, lecturers give views on future of UK engineering

The research was intended to find out what technology leaders of today and tomorrow think about the future of engineering technology, as well as the perceptual differences between lecturers and students. The sample was of 861 students and 123 lecturers from a range of UK institutions.

The way in which engineering is viewed by society is seen by lecturers as the most important factor in developing a best-in-class culture in the UK, coming ahead of investment in higher education or businesses.

But there is clearly a challenge to improve the image of engineering — despite the fact that students see it as positive, many lecturers think it is more difficult to attract people to the sector than it was when they first began their career.

For lecturers, the fact that engineering is an ‘interesting topic’ was the most important reason behind their decision to pursue it as a career — they felt that career or salary prospects were not as important.