Research and evidence underpins EngineeringUK’s work to enable more young people from all backgrounds to be inspired, informed and progress into engineering and technology. Our research provides insights into the current workforce, future workforce needs and young people’s progress towards careers in engineering and technology. Our evaluations and evidence reviews help us understand how to inspire the next generation. There’s been a lot published this year, so here are my top 5 takeaways.
Demand for engineers and technicians continues to grow
It’s encouraging to see that over 6 million people are working in engineering and technology related roles. Research we commissioned from Lightcast found that the sector accounts for 1 in 5 jobs in the UK (19%), but 1 in 4 of all job adverts (25%). This mismatch highlights the huge recruitment challenges we face, especially given that engineering and technology jobs are predicted to grow in all UK regions between now and 2030.
Given the demand across all sectors, it’s more important than ever to take action to bring more young people from all backgrounds into engineering and technology. The UK needs a robust plan and funding in place to train the future workforce.
Net zero remains a challenge and an opportunity
People working in engineering and technology are already playing a central role in developing solutions to fight climate change. Our report from Lightcast finds job advertisements mentioning a ‘green skill’ have increased by around half, to 212,000 a year. ‘Green’ roles appear across a wide range of engineering sectors – from civil and electrical through to ICT and software - showing that the application of these skills is far-reaching and important to the economy at large.
We know that environmental sustainability greatly interests young people and we need to make sure they understand the opportunities for them to make a positive difference through engineering and tech careers. We recently launched a pilot Climate Schools Programme to help students explore solutions to tackling climate change and discover how engineering and technology are a key part of this.
Tackling workforce gender disparity must start in schools
Diversity in the workplace benefits everyone, but our workforce is still not representative. Gender diversity remains the most prominent challenge – with just 16.5% of the engineering and technology workforce being women. It’s important that we continue to monitor the flow of young people on pathways into our sector to check progress.
A new analysis put the gender challenge into stark perspective. With the current conversion rate from A level to undergraduates, around 150,000 girls would need to study A levels in maths or physics (or both), in order to equal the number of male undergraduates – a staggering increase of around 115,000.
We need to do more to make sure physics and maths are attractive and accessible to girls and cultivate their interest and appetite for engineering and technology. Our rapid evidence review brought together the evidence available on how to increase girls’ aspirations in these areas. Universities also need to consider what flexibilities and support they can offer to improve their recruitment of young women into engineering and technology courses.
Effective engagement makes a difference
We have a range of evaluations across our activities. We iterate our programmes year on year, seeking to drive-up the participation from our priority schools – those with high proportions of students from groups under-represented in engineering and technology – and increase the outcomes that students report. For instance, this year we tried a new approach to our Big Bang Fair, using split sessions so that twice as many students could come each day. We were concerned that shortening the visits might limit their impact, but our evaluations said this was not the case. Reassuringly, this was absolutely consistent with how good it felt to be at the Fair this year; students seemed to be more focused and to get more out of the time they were with us.
How to open-up vocational routes for diverse talent
Apprenticeships and T levels offer fantastic routes into engineering, manufacturing and technology careers. However, there’s much to be done to grow their uptake and make them accessible and appealing to employers and young people alike. Over 2023, we conducted an inquiry led by Lord Knight and Lord Willetts on how to improve the uptake of engineering and manufacturing apprenticeships. My 5th takeaway is to encourage you to review our 5 point plan to address the barriers and concerns identified by businesses, education providers and young people.
We share all of our research and evidence as widely as we can – given that we all share the workforce challenge. As we move into 2024, we need to continue to work together and take a holistic approach to inspiring the next generation and driving change so that more young people choose engineering and technology careers.
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