Engineering news
Britain has a problem. There’s a massive deficit in engineering graduates – it’s been estimated that we need another 20,000 a year to fill all the roles that companies need to keep building and innovating.
It’s a situation that’s been exacerbated by Brexit, with uncertainty around the right to work making skilled migrants from Europe reluctant to settle down in the UK. The government has been trying to encourage us to develop our own home-grown talent through controversial schemes such as the apprenticeship levy, while there are a number of outreach programmes focussed on getting young people excited by the possibilities of a career in engineering, with the ‘Year of Engineering’ being a prime example.
But that may not be enough. Some have argued that we need to rethink our whole approach to training engineers. A new university in Hereford is taking a completely different approach to the usual three or four-year degree.
The New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) has received around £23m of government funding for the UK’s first new ‘greenfield’ university in 40 years. It aims to totally reimagine the higher education experience for engineers, with accelerated courses and hands-on teaching designed in collaboration with industry.
“A new approach is required,” says Dame Fiona Kendrick, former CEO and current chairman of Nestle UK and Europe, and Chair of the Board of Trustees at NMiTE in an exclusive interview with Professional Engineering. “The world is moving on and we’ve got to really consider how we’re going to equip people for the future.”
Kendrick highlights the new university’s focus on developing what NMiTE calls ‘liberal engineers’. “It’s not just about the technical aspects of engineering, a lot of it is also around what the role of engineering is going to be more broadly for society in the future,” she says.
Working with industry
“NMiTE’s fresh approach to STEM education is rooted in learning based on real-world problem solving,” says David Docherty, who is CEO of the National Centre for Universities and Business, and Chairman of work experience platform Placer. “We see this as of critical importance to help young people gain employability skills needed to transition into the high-growth sectors of the future.”
Placer is an app and website that helps place students in high quality STEM placements, and equip them with those skills. “Work experience is one vital part of the solution to the problem of STEM employability, and contributes to NMiTE’s mission of bringing out the best in a new generation of STEM talent,” says Docherty. “It enables students to gain the transferable skills they need for the workplace, while still in education.”
NMiTE has been set up with the same goal in mind. Courses, which will be compressed into a shorter space of time by working 46 weeks of the year, will be co-developed with industry experts. Companies have complained of graduates lacking the practical experience and soft skills they need to hit the ground running, and this is something NMiTE is seeking to fix.
“We always need to just challenge whether our traditional way of educating our young people is appropriate for the future,” says Kendrick. “The university team has been incredibly courageous in looking to move the whole model forward.”
One of the project’s stated goals is to have a 50/50 gender split for graduates. “We’re trying to attract a much higher proportion of female engineers into NMiTE. We are also wanting to attract a certain type of young person – young people with curiosity, with grit, with passion, as well that engineering mindset,” she continues.
Taking responsibility
Who should be responsible for ensuring a steady stream of skilled graduates for STEM companies to work their magic with? Should the government lead the way with more funding, or is it up to industry to create the talent it needs to thrive. “I think it’s everybody’s job,” says Kendrick. “I don’t think we can push it away and say it’s all government.”
She continues: “I genuinely do think this is joint responsibility. Sure government have a role, and I have to say the Department of Education has been incredibly supportive on this [NMiTE] but I also think that employers recognise their role.”
Kendrick believes that the new model of teaching could be transformative. “There’s not a company in this country that’s not clearly looking for an engineer of one form or another,” she says. “There’s such incredible energy and enthusiasm around this to get more engineers out there, equipped correctly, and with the right sort of profile.”
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.