Dyson: Video games killing interest in engineering
9 Jan 2013
London – The UK is allowing the “glamour of web fads and video gaming” to undermine interest in engineering, believes Sir James Dyson, who warned that there would be a deficit of 60,000 engineering graduates this year.
Calling on the government to do more to boost the UK technology industry and increase engineering graduates number, the industrialist said consumer electronics trends were being put ahead of “tangible technology that we can export.”
In a recent study, EngineeringUK found that by 2020 the industry will need 87,000 new faces with degree-level qualifications each year, almost double the current number coming through, notes Keith Lewis, managing director of Matchtech.
Echoing Dyson’s comments – which were reported by the BBC – Lewis said: “We recently spoke to more than 1,000 engineers and found that 78% don’t believe it is doing enough to attract next generation.
“This is a frightening statistic considering the UK is the oil and gas capital of Europe and its aerospace sector is one of the largest in the world.”
Lewis also pointed to the need for engineers at all levels in the fast-growing renewables sector.
The MD believes that successive Governments have paid only lip service to what actually needs to be done and, as a result, other careers, such as IT have emerged as more attractive avenues.
According to Lewis, the Government needs to start presenting engineering as an industry of choice, particularly at a time where the UK youth unemployment rate stands at 23%, Change, he said, must also come from those within the industry itself.
“The industry and government must to work together to ensure we attract the next generation and do not lose our mantle as ‘world leader’ in engineering, an industry that has been the backbone of the UK economy for many years,” Lewis concluded.
