Paul Blomfield: We need to look at engineering with fresh eyes

This misunderstanding is one of the main reasons why there is such a shortage of engineers in this country – 55,000 every year according to Engineering UK. The shortage of women is even more dire – only nine per cent of the engineering and technology workforce are female.

We’re simply not inspiring our children to study such an important profession.

Engineering is much more than fixing things. Last week, I spoke at an event in Parliament alongside a young woman engineer, who helped to design London’s extraordinary Shard. Engineers are creative, imaginative and crucial – everyday they come up with solutions to improve lives.

That’s why I am supporting a new campaign by the University of Sheffield to encourage more young people, and especially girls, to study engineering and inspire them to become the next Amy Johnson. Amy wasn’t just a pioneering aviator, she was one of the first women engineers.

She went to the University of Sheffield to study Latin, French and Economics, but was inspired by other lectures she attended. She was the first woman at the University to attend engineering lectures, despite strong opposition from professors at the time. But their views didn’t stop her. When she graduated in 1928, she started flying lessons and in 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

Engineering breakthroughs and discoveries are made every day and the industry is wide ranging and varied. Engineers are designing buildings of the future and new sustainably powered technology. They are making super lightweight handlebars to make cyclists go faster. They are creating models of 3D skin tissue engineered to fight against antibiotic resistance.

Our future depends on engineers, and so does our economy. Engineering is worth more than £26bn to Yorkshire and the Humber, employing thousands of people. Indeed, the sector is hugely important to ensure strong and sustainable economic growth in the UK.

Filling the demand for new engineering jobs will generate an additional £27bn per year for the UK economy from 2022, according to the 2015 Engineering UK report The State of Engineering.

We need to look at engineering with fresh eyes. On the site of the former Orgreave colliery in Rotherham, the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing is working on innovating new machining techniques that will make our aerospace and other high-value manufacturing industries more efficient and competitive.

Manufacturing companies, from global aerospace giants to local SMEs, are using the research and development opportunities at the AMRC to improve their capabilities. The fact that world-leading companies are attracted to the Sheffield City Region is so important for our local companies and provides other opportunities too. The Advanced Manufacturing Park, which hosts the AMRC, has become a hub for hi-tech companies and offers world-leading testing and research facilities.

Young people are being trained for future well-paid and secure careers as engineers at the AMRC’s Training Centre. Not only do they learn skills at the centre, they are paired with companies who employ and pay them throughout. These apprentices can go on to study a degree, masters and even a PhD, without debt and with the support of their employer.

These apprenticeships are very popular and well-regarded, but there are still more boys applying than girls. Why is that the case? You only need to look at our own society to see the truth. We tell boys that they can be engineers, we don’t tell girls. High-achieving girls are pushed towards being doctors, vets and dentists. We think of engineers working in grubby and old-fashioned environments but the AMRC tells a different story; it’s an ultra-clean and hi-tech workplace.

Parents and teachers are an important influence on children. That’s why the University’s ‘Engineering is…’ campaign is aimed at them too. A book, written by engineering students, is free to download on the website and families can read it together. They can play online games which explain about the different disciplines of engineering. Teacher resources such as lesson plans are available to download.

Without the engineers that we need, we face a future where the UK lags behind in terms of the manufacturing that we need to rebalance our economy. To achieve that, we need to tell young people the truth about engineering – that it is exciting and open to all, men and women alike.

Paul Blomfield is the Labour MP for Sheffield Central.