University of Warwick sets out to halt manufacturing brain-drain
NEW steps to prevent a manufacturing brain-drain are being pioneered by the University of Warwick.
The future of the sector depends on it receiving a regular intake of the best students from the UK’s top universities.
However, latest figures suggest around half of the current crop of prospective engineering graduates are lost to the system and with new concerns about the scale of tuition fees frightening off many more potential students, concerns are mounting the industry will not have enough talent to remain competitive.
The University of Warwick is now embarking on a campaign, funded by the National HE Stem programme, to encourage students, particularly bright young girls, to become engineers and scientists.
The move is in part a reaction to the new report by the Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) which concludes that building a strong manufacturing and engineering base will be vital to the UK’s economic recovery.
The report warns the UK is failing to harness the whole of its talent base and is at risk of losing its competitive edge. These fears were aired at a recent manufacturing round table event hosted by TheBusinessDesk.com.
The university is hoping the launch of ‘Great Expectations’ and the Talent 2030 campaign will help stem the flow of students away from manufacturing.
The first phase of the Talent 2030 campaign will focus on attracting more girls to take up engineering courses and then persuade to take up careers in manufacturing. Currently, fewer than one in 10 engineering professionals is female – the lowest proportion across the EU.
Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice Chancellor, University of Warwick, said: “If the country is to emerge from the recession and remain internationally competitive, we have to maximise our talent base. We need to encourage more women to pursue careers in engineering and manufacturing. If we continue to fail to make use of the talent of more than half the population we will fall behind our international competitors.”
The campaign will try and challenge perceptions about the industry and demonstrate it is clean, financially rewarding and capable of tackling key concerns over the environment.
The campaign will reach out to school pupils, particularly bright 13 year olds, with a focus on girls and schools in disadvantaged areas.
The taskforce behind the report, led by Richard Greenhalgh, former chairman of Unilever UK, and Professor Thrift, has commissioned an exclusive survey of undergraduate girls in the penultimate year of their courses who all achieved A grades in GCSE maths, physics and chemistry.
It revealed that:
• Less than a third of female undergraduates studying STEM subjects wish to pursue a career in the engineering and manufacturing sector.
• Careers advice in school is lacking, with nine out of 10 students saying they cannot remember receiving any career advice at all about manufacturing and engineering.
• 40% of the girls said they could be persuaded to take up a career in manufacturing and engineering, but were now not doing the right degrees.
• The sector is seen as dominated by men, dull, and lacking in excitement.
The report proposes that:
• Schools and colleges set a target for the number of girls achieving A-level physics at grade B or above.
• The Government includes the number of girls passing A-level physics at grade B and above in school and college league tables.
• Universities promote placements and internships in all manufacturing and engineering courses.
• Business commits to supporting a major manufacturing and engineering mentoring scheme, particularly aimed at girls before they reach 14.
• Design and Technology is made more academically rigorous and should be included in the English Baccalaureate.
