Simon Nadin: Young can engineer a great career path

OPPORTUNITIES are looking brighter for young apprentices in our region than they were a few years ago. A national programme to encourage young people into engineering has been strongly supported by business and the messages about science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects being vital for engineering – and interesting and fun – seem to be getting through.

But there is still a long way to go before we can honestly say that Britain’s engineering heritage has been fully rejuvenated. The shortage of engineers in Yorkshire is reflected nationwide, along with a shortage of female engineers and a less than diverse engineering talent pool. The number of engineering graduates entering the profession in the UK needs to double and research from the Royal Academy of Engineering estimates that we need 100,000 STEM graduates just to maintain the status quo until 2020.

Here in Leeds we at Siemens are working with organisations like the Ahead Partnership to build bridges and links between business and education. It is through this that we have connected with schools and colleges, such as Leeds East Academy and White Rose Academy (which incorporates three schools), to give pupils hands-on experience of engineering environments to consider when making career choices. Many pupils have toured our facility in Stourton and have asked interesting and thought-provoking questions.

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Two of our own team have recently been to local schools to help pupils with interview techniques and we are supporting several events and careers fairs in the region for STEM subjects; we are also working hard to encourage diversity, and for more girls to take up engineering careers.

The UK needs to fall in love with engineering again. We have a tremendous engineering heritage, particularly strong in places like Yorkshire, and we need to engage young people with engineering once more.

Engineering UK’s 2015 recent report on the state of engineering in the UK highlighted that Britain is great at engineering, but the UK at all levels of education does not currently have the capacity or rate of growth needed to meet the forecast demand for skilled engineers by 2022 – a forecasted demand of 257,000 new vacancies in engineering between now and 2022. It also claims that for every new engineering role, an additional two jobs are created in the economy. So, it makes sound economic sense to promote and safeguard engineering’s future.

Having spent three years on the Leeds City Employment Skills Panel, I gained greater insight into the skills challenges faced; not just for our business but for other businesses across Yorkshire.

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The net result is a University Technical College (UTC) in the Leeds City Region which could help plug the skills gap. Siemens already supports a number of UTCs in the UK (Lincoln, Sheffield, Walsall, Wigan) and Government funding for the Leeds UTC was agreed in February and a suitable site found on Hunslet Road, close to Leeds City College Printworks. A new principal has just been appointed and the Leeds UTC will open in September 2016, supported by Siemens and other businesses with local workforces such as Unilever and Agfa.

It is only by backing schools, stimulating skills and getting young people into engineering that we can continue to make good progress, as experienced people and teams are so vital to its success. There are some great organisations out there like ‘Primary Engineer’ (promoting STEM subjects at primary school) and the Lottery-funded, Leeds-based ‘Make the Grade’ from the Ahead Partnership, which helps integrate the world of work with education.

What we need in return from our region’s young people is a can-do attitude and a hard-working approach and we have plenty of both in Yorkshire. However, schools have a key role and advice given to children regarding careers, from an employer’s point of view, sometimes leaves a lot to be desired.

The top three starting salaries for graduate engineers are now doctors in first place, dentists second and engineers third. The future is therefore bright in engineering and the UK wants people to fill those engineering opportunities.

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There is a great engineering culture in other countries like Germany that needs to develop here in the UK, and specifically in our region. Business and the education establishment need to be in tune in order to develop engineering and see our young people really shine in the future.

Simon Nadin is general manager at Siemens Process Industries & Drives in Leeds.

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