Duc Pham, chance professor of engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham
In case you were not already aware, the UK spent last year celebrating the successes and contributions of engineering. According to the Royal Academy of Engineering, “Engineering is one of the most productive sectors in the UK economy, accounting for 23 percent of the UK economy and half of our exports.”1 Led by the government, the Royal Academy of Engineering and other institutions, together with industry, mounted the Year of Engineering campaign to profile the “world and wonder of engineering” 2, the objective being to inspire young people to become engineers.
For some time now, many in the engineering profession and in government have been warning that there is “a shortfall in [qualified] engineering professionals.”1 The emphasis on “qualified” is mine, since I believe the warning to be correct if we are talking about well-qualified engineers. The Year of Engineering campaign is part of the government’s Industrial Strategy, “which is committed to boosting engineering across the UK, ensuring everyone has the skills needed to thrive in a modern economy.”2
One can attribute the shortfall to the lack of interest in engineering as a career. This, in turn, can be linked to the perceived low status of engineers in the UK. The casual use of the title “engineer” by the public and the social standing of engineers compared with other professionals such as doctors and lawyers have led to unending discussions, as evidenced by the numbers of related letters published in engineering magazines and comments posted on online engineering fora.
There is an opportunity to redress the situation. The solution traces back to the general theory of value and price set out by English philosopher John Locke in 1691, and rediscovered in the late 1970s by yours truly. I remember, at that time, learning to weed the garden of our rented student house. I had never done any gardening previously and did not know which plants were weeds. The rule I came up with was weeds were plants that grew out of control; they were worthless because they were in oversupply and there was no demand for them.
The lesson for the engineering teaching profession is clear. So that engineers receive the recognition they deserve, we must not overproduce them. We must not rush into trying to address the shortfall in engineers by filling our classrooms with weak students. Instead, we must be more selective and admit only the top candidates onto engineering courses. We must raise admission standards to be at least as tough as they are in medicine, which is the case in countries where engineers have a high social standing. Only then can we be sure that engineering will be regarded as a desirable career attractive to the bright minds we need for the country to be competitive.
www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/mechanical-engineering/index.aspx
References
12018. The Year of Engineering [web page]. (2018). Royal Academy of Engineering. Available at: bit.ly/2TriI8x
2Engineering: take a closer look [web page]. (2018). HM Government. 2018 Year of engineering. Available at: bit.ly/2NLQbnO