Abstract
Meeting the need
It has been estimated that engineering companies in the UK will need to recruit approximately 182,000 individuals with engineering skills each year to 2022. Occupations at level 4+ (HND/C, foundation degree, undergraduate or postgraduate and equivalent) are most likely to require engineering skills, and these account for approximately 107,000 openings per year, with another 56,000 openings in need of level 3 skills (Advanced Apprenticeships). EngineeringUK analysis of the supply data demonstrates a significant problem in that the corresponding supply at level 4+ is just 82,000 (a shortfall of 25,000 per year) and at level 3 it is 26,000 (a shortfall of 30,000 per year).
Given the large amount of data available that supports the fact that the UK will not have sufficient trained engineers to meet its needs and that an appropriately skilled engineering workforce is needed to support the economy, government is working across the stakeholder community to address the skills gap. Schemes are being developed in response to national need where our Institute is actively playing its own part to represent and support our own stakeholders. During the summer we have been looking at the part the Institute can play in the development of degree apprenticeship schemes. Any apprenticeship is fundamentally a blend of work, education and training and degree apprenticeships are no different. For the University study element, accredited degree provision is already available through the work of our Accreditation Committee and the Engineering Council and the degree element of the degree apprenticeship will be covered by existing accreditation of degree programmes. The new element for the Institute is around approval of the workplace experience and training. A further scheme is developing from a recent report entitled ‘Transition to Engineering’ which considers how to populate the skills gap by fostering the development of engineering conversion courses for graduates from non-engineering first-degrees. An invitation to bid for pilot funding has been announced by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) encouraging educational establishments preferably working with industry to support the development and piloting of engineering conversion courses for non-engineering graduates.
The voice of industry is obviously highly pertinent to the skills shortage and the ensuing education and training debate. Over 97% of engineering enterprises in the UK are either small or micro where in excess of 85% have fewer than 10 employees. This has to be balanced with the fact that although companies with at least 250 employees represent only 0.4% of all engineering enterprises, they employ over two fifths of the work force. My discussions with companies in the measurement and control area over recent weeks have revealed, as may be expected, very different needs in terms of the skills required from those they employ as well as the training they are able and willing to supply in the work place. Perhaps for small or micro enterprises the degree apprenticeship scheme, which provides a natural route to exploit shared training, may be a positive step forward. Whether it be apprenticeships at any level or the needs of engineering conversion courses, it is essential that we work across our Institute with the objective of ensuring that the needs of our measurement and control community are well represented in this rapidly developing landscape.