published on 19/09/08
As a nation, our need for engineers who can provide engineering services and support has never been so high. The UK needs to reserve its place among the ranks of other countries in an increasingly global marketplace, where competitive advantage is gained by developing new technologies and introducing innovative products. Also, as our society develops, we find greater need for technology to make life better and to fix some of the problems that are emerging like an ageing population, over-crowded cities, high energy consumption and a lack of water.
Engineers – skilled mechanical personnel- are the people who create such technology and will shape the future of the world.
The trouble is that while the need for engineers grows, the supply does not. One reason is that we fail to stimulate the interest of many groups in our society and in particular by making enough use of the potential engineering talent of half the UK population: women.
Things are being done though. Working alongside the UKRC, The Royal Academy of Engineering's National Engineering Programme puts women and ethnic groups at the very heart of an initiative aimed at strengthening engineering. The strategy is to work with engineering departments in partner universities to help foster gender and ethnic appropriate courses. The National Engineering Programme (NEP) sets out to work in schools to engage under-represented groups and take them on a journey that will lead into higher education (a success in its own right) and a good number into engineering courses. This will be a 10-year mission, and the first step, a pilot project in London [The London Engineering Project] is already underway with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
An important dimension of the NEP is the way in which the many partners have come together to ensure we benefit from the sum of all the initiatives. This essential element of the NEP, bringing coherence to the many schemes that promote engineering, is also a main target of the Academy's Shape the Future campaign launched at the end of 2005, and which also challenges young people to do 'one more thing' on the road to pursuing a career in engineering, science or technology.

Read the full article at London Engineering Project