Bèta’s nodig voorbij de crisis
Engineering sector must shatter its male-dominated image to lurenew recruits. The annual health check on the state of theindustrial labour market from the Engineering and Technology Boardshows that the sector needs to shatter its male-dominated image totackle a potentially severe skills shortage. Population changesmean that the number of school leavers will decline by 16% by 2019,leaving a reduced talent pool for engineering.
Government hopes of a revitalised manufacturing sector draggingBritain out of recession will be thwarted unless almost 600,000engineers are recruited and trained over the next sevenyears. The UK will need an extra 587,000 engineers between nowand 2017, all with advanced skills to rival those in otherdeveloped economies.
The report expressed concern at the 30% decline in the number oflecturers teaching engineering, manufacturing and technologycourses, and at the 17% drop in the number of higher educationstudents going into production and manufacturing degrees thisyear.
“The UK has great potential to rebalance its economy by drawing onits strong manufacturing base,” the report says. “However,shortages of new engineers and of the further education lecturersto train them could seriously jeopardise this, impacting onsuccessful British industries including manufacturing, aerospaceand construction.”
The Engineering and Technology Board’s chief executive, PaulJackson, said: “Manufacturing is incredibly important to the UK,and engineering important to manufacturing. The question is whetherwe are doing enough soon enough.”
[bron: Guardian]
