Increase in engineering applicants

Dubbed as a “much needed upward tick for engineering”, applications increased by 7% on the previous year for all domiciles, and up by 9% for UK applicants.

Verity O’Keefe, senior employment and skills policy advisor at manufacturing trade body EEF, said the manufacturing sector, like all engineering sectors, is crying out for young talent.

While today’s statistics show good progress is being made, applications are just the beginning

EEF’s Verity O’Keefe

“Manufacturing needs to find almost one million workers by 2020 simply to replace those retiring or leaving industry,” O’Keefe said.

“If we are to meet this challenge head-on and provide the skilled workers that industry needs the number of UK engineering graduates needs to increase significantly.”

However, an increased number of applications should not be taken as a like for like increase in the number of fully qualified engineers.

“While today’s statistics show good progress is being made, applications are just the beginning,” O’Keefe said.

“We must fix the ‘leaky’ engineering pipeline to ensure that today’s applicants will become tomorrow’s skilled engineers.”

Indeed, during January Process Engineering spoke to one chemical engineering post graduate who had chosen to make the move into the finance sector after completing her degree.

Investment banking analyst Chisom Orji said chemical engineering companies do not offer the same level of visibility in terms of career potential – hence deciding to move into banking.

When talking to chemical engineers before finishing university, Orji said there wasn’t an “up and out” structure in terms of progression.

“There was a sense that you could be good at your job but that you could plateau quite early on in your career,” she said.