Engineering Memoranda of Evidence Memo Submission from: Page no no Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) with input from the Department for 1 Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and 3 Regulatory Reform (BERR) 2 UK Computing Research Committee (UKCRC) 37 3 Environment Agency 44 4 Dr David Birdsall 46 5 Clive Bone 48 6 Prof Michael Kelly 51 7 Greenpower (Barry Shears) 54 8 Smallpiece Trust (Andrew Cave) 57 9 Young Engineers (Stuart Ellins, Chief Executive) 59 10 Royal Aeronautical Society 63 11 United Kingdom Association of Professional Engineers (UKAPE) 69 12 National Grid 75 13 Faculty of Engineering, Imperial College London 79 14 Materials UK 88 15 Network Rail 103 16 EDF Energy Networks 107 17 BAE Systems plc 116 18 The Engineering Development Trust 126 19 Engineering Professors’ Council 129 20 New Engineering Foundation (Prof Sa’ad Medhat) 135 21 The Engineering and Technology Board 144 22 UK Naval Engineering, Science and Technology Forum (UKNEST) 152 23 Wellcome Trust 156 24 Prospect 159 25 The Professional Engineering Community 173 26 Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) 181 27 Engineering and Machinery Alliance (EAMA) 191 28 UK Engineering Alliance (UKEA) 196 29 Professor Steve Rothberg, Loughborough University 202 30 Women’s Engineering Society (WES) 207 31 VP Engineering, Messier-Dowty Limited 211 32 Michael Dickson CBE 216 33 Institution of Nuclear Engineers and the British Nuclear Energy Society (INucE and BNES) 218 34 EEF 225 35 Universities UK 234 36 The Universities Transport Partnership 240 1 37 Edexcel 244 38 The Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (Semta) 249 39 UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology 257 40 ConstructionSkills 266 41 The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) 271 42 Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) 280 43 Institute of Physics (IoP) 283 44 John Napier 287 45 British Computer Society 291 46 The Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Network (STEMNET) 292 47 Research Councils UK 295 48 The Learning Grid 319 49 Engineering Council UK 330 50 Chartered Management Institute 336 51 The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) 344 52 The WISE Campaign 351 53 CEESI Training (co-ordinated by the University of Bolton) 357 54 Professor John Monk, Department of Communications and Systems, Open University 361 55 Design and Technology Association 369 56 Hereford & Worcester Chamber of Commerce 372 57 Campaign for Science and Engineering in the UK (CaSE) 378 58 Thales 382 59 Rolls-Royce 385 60 Association of Colleges (AoC) 390 61 Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA) 398 62 The Royal Society 402 63 Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) 404 64 Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Limited (SMMT) 411 65 Society of British Aerospace Companies 416 66 Ford Motor Company Limited 426 67 North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) 432 68 Warwick S Faville 440 2 Memorandum 1 Submission from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) with input from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) 1. Introduction 1.1 The Government welcomes the Select Committee’s interest in engineering. We agree with the comment of the international review of UK engineering research, The Wealth of a Nation1, which stated that engineering creates goods, services and infrastructure that benefit humankind. The health of engineering is therefore of national importance. The UK can only succeed in a rapidly changing world if we can develop the skills of our people to the fullest possible extent, carry out world class research and apply knowledge to create an innovative and competitive economy. We want to secure a future for our nation in which we are able to compete effectively in the global market, because our skills compete with the best in the world. We see engineers and engineering as a very important aspect of this work 1.2 This memorandum has inputs from three Government Departments. • The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has led because all areas of its work - on skills, further and higher education, innovation, science and technology, science and society, intellectual property, and supporting evidence-based policy making in this area across government – have an effect on engineering. Engineering requires a skilled workforce. It needs, and contributes to our world class research base and can be a driver and user of innovation. • The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)’s interest comes in its responsibility for children and schools; it is in schools that children can get an initial interest in the work that engineers do; secure the basic knowledge and qualifications they need to study engineering; and get the advice and guidance that might encourage them down this path. • The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is responsible for government policy for business and enterprise including business innovation and manufacturing, and therefore has an interest in the health of engineering as an important contributor to the UK’s economic base. 1 The Wealth of a Nation – An Evaluation of Engineering Research in the UK, EPSRC, 2004. http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchFunding/Programmes/Engineering/ReviewsAndConsultations/IntReview/I nternationalReviewReport.htm 3 1.3 In the body of this memorandum, we seek to answer the questions the committee has posed. But overall, the following points are worth drawing out: • The UK undoubtedly needs a strong supply of engineering skills. We note the evidence of demand from employers for people with good engineering skills, at all levels, and the indications that the graduate premium for engineering degrees is one of the highest. • There is a shortage of engineers now and in addition to needing more to respond to innovation and development, we will need to replace engineers as they retire or move away from the sector. • A key requirement is children leaving education with the right skills, able to compete for these jobs. The Government is committed to achieving further improvements in the numbers of children achieving well in the key Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects at school and college. We believe that this will feed into continuing increases in applications to study STEM subjects at university, and in due course to move into research. • We are also determined to offer qualifications, at all levels, that strike the right balance between the academic and the applied elements of learning. This is especially important for a subject such as engineering. The new Engineering Diploma to run alongside A-levels from September 2008; the growth in Foundation degrees; our reforms of apprenticeships; and our commitment to support more qualifications demanded by employers, are all examples of the application of this policy. • The UK economy is dynamic, and its industrial base is constantly changing in response to changes in the world and the competitive environment. Globalisation and the rapid development of emerging economies like China and India highlight the growing need for UK manufacturers to compete on the basis of high value added products and services and high skills. New markets bring new opportunities and UK manufacturing is changing in response to this challenge, with growth concentrated in knowledge based sectors such as bioscience, environmental industries, electronics and software engineering. China and India will not be content with commodity production for long, they are rapidly upskilling, with an estimated 4 million graduates a year, many in science and engineering, demonstrating an increasing need for the UK to further develop its own engineering skills. • Engineering remains a very significant part (one third) of overall UK research and development, and we have funded a range of policies to support innovation, collaboration between business and academia, and the development of core research. • There remains a task to convey the importance and fascination of engineering to people of all ages, and thereby build an interest in engineering and respect for those who practise it. Government, business, educational bodies and the many different engineering institutions and 4 societies all have a role to play. A recent Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) / Engineering and Technology Board study showed that young people have a limited understanding of engineering, and that must concern all of us who care about our national future and prosperity. 1.4 UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has provided input and this is included as an Annex (Annex H) as there are clear linkages between both papers. The Technology Strategy Board and Research Councils UK will be responding separately to the Select Committee. The Royal Academy of Engineering and other engineering institutions are also expected to submit memoranda. 2. The Role of Engineering and Engineers in UK society 2.1 Engineers and their decisions have a significant effect and long lasting impact on all UK society. The profession itself rightly emphasises the key role engineers have to play in ensuring that the right decisions are made, and resources brought to bear, in meeting both corporate and societal aims. In its broadest sense, engineering is about more than excellence in technical skills and scientific understanding – it is about working with others, often in a lead role, in putting