The 8th Edge Debate: 20th July 1999

Is there a shortage of engineers?

Andrew Ramsay, Director of Engineers' Regulation, The Engineering Council

Some facts

The Labour Force Survey shows that there are just under 400,000 graduate engineers in the UK today. We compare favourably with the USA, Germany and France in the number of graduate 24 year olds holding science or engineering degrees. Although the number of home students commencing engineering courses in the UK slipped in 1998 by 700 from the 17,000 recorded for 1996 and 1997, that is still rather more than the 13-15,000 graduates per year who emerged in the 1980s.

So no cause for alarm?

Not exactly. While supply and demand seems to be more or less in balance, concerns are regularly expressed at the quality of engineering graduates. Engineering attracts, year in and year out, a cadre of about 2,250 school-leavers with 26 A level points or better - comparable with the numbers of high-flyers going into law and medicine. Nevertheless employers tend to be most concerned about "soft skills" - communications, teamworking, understanding of the business context - but it is clear that these can be learnt, if universities or employers are prepared to put the time in..

More to the point is whether these graduates go into engineering. It is certainly true that increasing numbers - particularly the brightest - are very much in demand. (There are indications that as many as a thousand 1998 engineering graduates went into accountancy.) The modern economy needs the skills of numerate, logical systems designers in nearly every field - from banking to leisure to retail to healthcare.

Engineers are expensive to educate. In a liberal economy it is appropriate that their skills are sold to the highest bidder. If engineering - particularly construction - cannot offer the financial and career rewards that other parts of the economy can, then it is doomed to shrink, and to lose quality, until it becomes worth someone's while to differentiate their service by quality – with an appropriate premium price.

Construction's special problem

Construction faces a special problem. While long regarded as the cream of the profession, civil engineers' salaries languish at the bottom of the pile. The most recent Engineering Council salary survey showed them being paid - on average - nearly a quarter less than their chemical engineering colleagues, and significantly less than mechanical or electrical engineers. This must have something to do with the steep decline in applications to read civil engineering. If it has done nothing else, the introduction of tuition fees has caused a closer scrutiny of career prospects - for vocational subjects especially. This says to me that construction has more than enough civil engineers at present, but that things will get difficult unless employers face up to the necessity of paying more for their engineering expertise in future.

What about the future?

Much has been made of the damaging effects of the new Engineering Council SARTOR regulations. In fact SARTOR has been demonised by those whose poor quality courses and intake of inadequate students are likely to suffer. It is not my intention to mount a defence of SARTOR, but it is worth noting that SARTOR actually encourages the introduction of degree courses for those with poor or non-existent A levels in maths and sciences. The retargeted Incorporated Engineer register is intended for their graduates. All of the losses of course places that have occurred in engineering have come from weaker faculties.

Of rather more concern is the continuing decline in the number of degree qualified science and mathematics teachers, and the dearth of younger post-graduate engineers in engineering faculties. The effects of this are insidious and long term. One of the consequences of the strong demand for engineers and scientists in the economy is their unwillingness to make the kind of sacrifices demanded by the modern state-controlled education system.

Other worrying trends

Recent evidence from Germany, the United States and Denmark points to a steep decline in the numbers of entrants to higher education interested in taking engineering. Evidence from Germany indicates a decline of up to a third in entries to the Technischer Hochschule and Fachhochschule five year Dipl.-Ing courses. Entries in Denmark have nearly halved over the last five years. A campaign has been launched in the USA to try to persuade more schoolchildren to consider engineering, following an 18% decline in entries to bachelor degrees in engineering in the last five years. Over 50% of Masters degrees there are now undertaken by non-US nationals.

Interdisciplinary Skills

The Gann Study concentrates on the need for interdisciplinary skills in the construction industry. From the point of view of the engineering profession, construction is not really different from other parts of the economy. Arguably, engineers are taught to have an interdisciplinary outlook - certainly it is no longer possible to practise as a mechanical engineer without an understanding of electronics ("mechatronics" is the vogue word), aeronautical engineers are increasingly taught on systems engineering courses, chemical engineers have to understand genome biology, and all are involved with process engineering. There have always been more structural/building services engineering firms about than architect/builders, or QS/engineers.

The Engineering Council's regulations – drawn up over a four year consultation period - recognise the need for a broad, interdisciplinary approach. Hence SARTOR describes the requirements of an engineering degree thus:

• "Whatever the discipline or level, an accredited engineering degree course is expected to:
• provide a foundation for a wide range of subsequent study and develop a positive attitude towards lifelong learning.
• motivate students towards the practice of engineering and stimulate their learning.
• set the engineering science within the context of real engineering applications.
• be taught in the context of design, so that design provides an integrating theme which exposes students to a proper mixture of analysis, synthesis, conceptual design and the other issues listed below.
• present an intellectual challenge, whilst integrating theory with current industrial practice.
• ensure that the social, legal, economic and political contexts within which engineers operate are understood.
• contribute to the personal and professional development of students in the context of the applications of engineering and the need of modern businesses for articulate, problem solving and aware graduates."

SARTOR also offers a solution to the problem that has dogged building services engineering, since the ending of the old IHVE examination. It is clear that the demand for building services first degree courses has always been poor - and heavily reliant on employer sponsorship, informed parental pressure, or the clearing system. The new SARTOR requirement offers the opportunity for an aspiring chartered engineer to complete a mechanical or electrical three year undergraduate degree, and follow this up with a "Matching Section" – a one-year course - (which may be taken part-time over a period) and which could provide the essential theoretical and industry base to practise building services engineering.

There is another issue. Many mature graduate engineers are already available to work in construction but have had no experience in the industry or specific training in civil or building services engineering. There seems little interest in seeking out those who have come to a dead end in another branch of engineering, or who wish to return to engineering. Converting such engineers would be costly and time-consuming, but not impossible. Is it just that employers are less and less prepared to invest in training?

Issues

In summary, the questions we need to ask are:

• How many professional engineers do we actually need?
• Do they all need to be educated to MEng standards?
• How many do we already have available in the economy?
• Should we be concerned if those trained as engineers find jobs in other parts of the economy?
• If the decline in applications reflects international trends, what can be done about it?