More young people want to be engineers, says government18 February 2014

There has been a sharp rise in the number of young people considering a career in engineering, according to a survey commissioned by Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).

The survey has found that the number of 11-14 year olds thinking about working in engineering has jumped by 6%. It showed a 6% rise in the number of girls saying they would consider an engineering career.

The government said the increases were due, at least in part, to Tomorrow's Engineers Week, which ran from November 4 to 8 last year, when government, employers and educators came together to enthuse young people, particularly girls, about the rewarding careers on offer in engineering.

Business secretary Vince Cable said: ""It is encouraging to see that our efforts to highlight the importance of engineering as a career has had a positive effect and that more women and girls are seeing it as an exciting career.

"As a country we excel in hi-tech industries but we need the engineers to maintain our competitive advantage. Government alone cannot solve this. We need to work with industry, universities, colleges and schools to keep momentum and guarantee the pipeline of talent so that businesses are not disadvantaged."

Respondents to the poll comprised 1,000 11-14 year olds and 1,000 parents of children aged 11-14 in England and Wales.

Government and industry launched Tomorrow's Engineers Week following the Perkins Review of Engineering Skills, which focused on the need to shore up the pipeline of skills throughout the whole engineering sector.

Ian Vallely

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