The Need for Role Models in British Engineering

The plight of the anonymous engineer  

It is now widely accepted that the issues being faced by British industry due to the chronic lack of new students coming into the field are due to the perceptions and misconceptions of my generation.

A recent study by EngineeringUK found that 830,000 new engineers were needed by 2020, to fill the gap left by retiring engineers. To put this in perspective, the university system is currently producing around 23,000 students PA. — Our national finances are not the only worrying Deficit!

I contributed to the ERA Foundations report into the reasons that students will not engage with manufacturing and engineering, this was carried out by a PR firm. They agreed that the issues people face with careers in engineering are widely due to misconceptions rather than fundamental issues with the jobs available. I had a long discussion with them about the role of engineers in society and the lack of clear high profile role models.

If you think about your car, or your mobile phone — items which require a huge amount of engineering — are you aware of any of the people involved in designing it, making it or even how it works? I think most people would only get as far as Steve Jobs

Engineers tend to be very modest and take a great deal of pleasure seeing their products and designs being useful in society, without needing to associate themselves with them. This causes people to disassociate engineering, which is a receptor for their conceptions of oily overall clad Victorian factories, with the exciting product which are fundamental to their everyday lives.

Furthermore, there is a bizarre feature of public perception, which has made the negativity surrounding engineering self-perpetuating. As people assume engineering to be profoundly “uncool”, when an engineer rises to prominence and features in the media, they are quickly promoted out of engineering. To me Sir James Dyson is a good example, he is an engineer through and through, whilst he is clearly a very successful business leader, his success has been down to his own innovation and continued technical advancement in his field. However, he is now often branded as an “entrepreneur”, as though he has been promoted out of “engineering”. It is media trends like these which have been hugely damaging to the industries perception.

Similarly, on a much smaller scale, personable, easily relate-able role models with in schools, are powerful forces to encourage students into taking engineering or D&T subjects. Within my own school, the statistics make it very clear, if you study the quality of A-Level candidates and the number of students taking DT at GCSE, when my own year took GCSE, there were 6 candidates, we all produced some really interesting and exciting projects and the following year, there were 23 candidates. This is evident throughout all subjects and schools, where minority subjects achieve unprecedented uptake, following social endorsement. This can certainly be enhanced, by providing opportunities to showcase exceptional work, amongst your peers. My school runs an annual exhibition and subscribes to a number of schemes recognising excellence, such as The Young Engineer for Britain competition and Crest Awards.

for more details:

http://www.georgededwards.co.uk/policy/the-need-for-role-models-in-british-engineering