Jason Ford

UK needs 'better engineering careers advice service'

News

The UK needs a better careers advice service to tackle the widening engineering skills gap, according to delegates speaking at the Royal Academy of Engineering yesterday.

Young people aged as young as 10 or 11 are making curriculum choices that can restrict their capacity to become engineers, said Chris Humphries of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) at the launch of BAE Systems’ latest skills review.

‘We actually give better advice to people buying a new television set in this country than we do to young people seeking to make their first career step,’ added Humphries. ‘The best estimate according to reliable information services is that television buyers are better off by a factor of five to one.’

These thoughts were echoed by BAE Systems’ chairman, Dick Olver, as he launched an effort to bring the different elements of the company’s education strategy under a single banner, entitled ‘Skills 2020’.

‘We need a career adviser in every school who actually understands what the opportunities are on the back side of the STEM [science, technology, engineering or mathematics] skills,’ he said.

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