ECUK gives evidence to Commons Select Committee

Every year a significant proportion of new graduate engineers embark on career paths unrelated to engineering. Why this should be so is one of the issues explored in written evidence given by the Engineering Council UK (ECUK) to a major inquiry into engineering being held by the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee.

The submission - which supports joint evidence prepared by the UK's 36 professional engineering institutions, the Engineering & Technology Board (ETB) and ECUK - also suggests that engineering is being disadvantaged by its association with science. On a more positive note it talks of the benefits brought by UK-SPEC, the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence.

This is the first government inquiry into engineering for many years and comes at a time of growing disquiet over apparent shortages of skilled, homegrown engineers and technicians. The committee's remit is wide ranging and will include an investigation of the generic issues affecting the profession and its skills needs. That the different sectors of the engineering community have been able to produce a joint submission demonstrates a clarity of vision over the challenges it is facing and a common resolve as to how these should be tackled.

Through its additional evidence, ECUK has been able to expand on several key points and provide a degree of detail not possible in the group response owing to the length restriction imposed on individual submissions. For example, while the joint response identifies a need to discover why so many engineering graduates turn their backs on the profession, the supplementary document from ECUK suggests possible lines of enquiry, particularly the reported paucity of good post-graduate training prospects.

It refers to surveys conducted by the DTI and Barclays early in the decade that pointed to a decline in the number of engineering graduates finding graduate training programmes (just 32% in 2002), while another study indicated that much of what was on offer was narrow and of poor quality. A further survey, this one from HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency), showed that unemployment rates among engineering graduates six months after leaving university (11% in 2006) were higher than the average for all disciplines. However, the same study revealed that three years after graduation they suffer one of the lowest levels of unemployment, with only 1% not having found work.

As ECUK points out in its evidence to the committee, it seems very possible that, faced with a dearth of good engineering-related graduate training schemes, coupled with a lack of jobs for those without experience, graduate engineers have reluctantly sought jobs in other sectors.

Turning to the role of engineers in UK society, ECUK suggests that their contribution is generally less appreciated than the work done by scientists. Underlining the unfairness of this situation, it points to the greater range of skills usually required in engineering - such as the ability to communicate ideas to a wide spectrum of individuals, including product developers, marketing personnel and customers. In consequence, they also need a broader education. Moreover, their careers are much less likely to be in academia and there is more opportunity for them to progress through the ranks to the top of the profession.

Yet to many, the engineer appears to dwell in the shadow of the scientist, relegated to a support act, albeit a very necessary one. This highlights the need for engineering to be clearly distinguished from science as a different but equally worthwhile career.

In commenting on the state of the UK's engineering skills base, ECUK assesses the impact of UK-SPEC, the current national standard for registration of professional engineers. One important feature of the standard - which was introduced in 2003 - is that it was designed to encourage innovative HE provision, with the result that new types of engineering degree courses are now beginning to appear. Importantly, it has paved the way for academic programmes with strong industrial involvement, the graduates from which are increasingly sought after by employers.

However, ECUK does express concern that young learners are being taught by those with limited engagement with the engineering profession, a situation it is trying to help rectify by encouraging academics in both further and higher education to become professionally qualified. It is though aware that the pressures of the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) - which has hitherto determined the allocation of research funding - may have deterred young academics from working towards registration. For this reason it would like to see professional qualifications recognized in the Research Excellence Framework (REF), which is replacing the RAE.

ECUK's submission to the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee's inquiry can be found at: www.engc.org.uk/publications, as can the engineering community's joint submission.