Are today’s methods of selecting and grading our graduate engineers lacking? Part 2 Graduate Numbers
For many years I have been concerned about the number of degree level students studying Engineering as it seems to be mismatched to the needs of UK industry. Reviewing my own discipline, it can be seen from the following figure that annual UK chemical engineering student intake numbers hovered around 1,000 for 30 years until a very rapid rise in the early noughties. A similar trend can be seen for most other engineering disciplines. What was the catalyst for the rise? I think it was mostly driven by former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s 1997 “Education, education, education” initiative. While the importance of education cannot be disputed, I think the mantra should be “The right education, the right education, the right education”.
It is a bit of a head scratcher as to why so many more chemical engineers were being educated when the UK chemicals industry was shrinking. Furthermore, advances in desktop analysis, design and communications should make a noughties engineer much more efficient than a seventies engineer. Hence less engineers are required?
Does “the right education” involve offering more university courses and having more students going to University? Perhaps the right education means more apprentices and more technicians. In my early career, I recall there being a significant number of employees with HNDs in chemical engineering. That seemed to be a perfectly appropriate qualification for many industrial roles. Furthermore, with today’s fee system, the HND route would not leave graduates with large debts after 4–5 years’ worth of study.
I do appreciate that a chemical engineering education equips graduates for positions beyond the process industries. But, given that very few of my students studied chemical engineering because they wanted to go into finance, can a three-fold increase in graduate numbers be justified? I am not convinced that our education priorities reflect the national demand with respect to chemical engineers. I am aware of the many reports stating we need more engineers, but I know of no large employer of chemical engineers that is saying “hey you need to train more”.
Adapted from an article of mine - Screen Test, The Chemical Engineer, Nov1, 2018 https://www.thechemicalengineer.com/features/screen-test/
Process Engineer | Analytics | MES
4 年It’s not just engineering, the number of every discipline has expanded. “At a glance, British universities are a national success story. They have increased the number of undergraduate degrees they award fivefold since 1990, while the proportion of Firsts they hand out has quadrupled – from 7 per cent in 1994 to 29 per cent in 2019. For every student who got a First in the early 1990s, nearly 20 do now. Masters’ degrees, meanwhile, are nearly ten times as common as they were. Universities have, it seems, managed to surge in both size and quality. And they have done it all while spending comparatively little on teaching, and despite a wave of sudden changes to how they operate. In no other publicly funded sector has so dramatic an expansion seemingly cost so little and achieved so much. Our universities, we are regularly assured, are “world class”. They are a prime British export; international students flock to study in the UK.” https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2019/08/great-university-con-how-british-degree-lost-its-value
Senior Technical Services & Management Consultant
4 年Why not a industry scope for talent review meetings and issue log , brougth into practice to close the gap.? 100% sure, today's? graduates prefer quickly to earn, not considering slow and steady win the race.?
Green Chemical Engineer
4 年Its not hard to work out how the bonus system works for top dogs running Unis and engineering institutions which clamour for more revenue from subs . A relative worked in admin at a big city uni and told me the whole strategy from above was to bring in as many undergrads as possible, even though they didn't have the lecture rooms nor accommodation to deal with such high numbers. Just follow the money trail for explanations. I feel sorry for young people deceived by the illusion its a guaranteed route to a well paid engineering job. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/12/vice-chancellors-pay-universities-england-2017-18
Process Engineer, Development Engineer & Workshop Facilitator
4 年Interesting trend Tom, is it a global one or just a domestic drive?