With, as Mark Jones, director of Learning and Development at Atkins puts it, ‘the UK not generating enough new engineers’, 3 March saw the official launch of the ‘EngTechNow’ campaign, which aims ‘to increase the status of Engineering Technicians’, and is targeting registration of 100,000 such technicians by 2020.
The campaign, first announced by the Prime Minister last summer, aims to ‘promote routes for technicians and engineering apprentices to professionally register as Engineering Technicians (EngTech), and thus enhance their career prospects’. Its launch coincided with this year’s National Apprenticeship Week. Engineering Council projections suggest that, between 2010 and 2020, there will be 1.86 million UK job openings for workers with engineering skills. However, a review published in 2012 by the Technician Council (UKCES Working Futures 2010-2020) revealed ‘an alarming skills gap between the current number of technicians in the UK, and the 450,000 higher skilled technician roles needed by 2020 to boost economic growth and ensure the UK maintains a competitive edge internationally’. The three largest professional engineering institutions (the IET, IMechE, and ICE) are thus working on a joint programme to register ‘worldclass skilled professional technicians’ as Engineering Technicians (EngTech), supported by the Engineering Council and another 30 professional engineering institutions (including IHEEM) licensed to award EngTech registration. The Engineering Council said: “Over 300 UK engineering firms have graduate development schemes that encourage graduates to progress to professional status as Incorporated Engineers or Chartered Engineers. The EngTechNow campaign is urging more companies to recognise that those who have come through vocational and apprenticeship routes can also achieve professional status as Engineering Technicians.” Atkins’ Mark Jones said: “The UK is not generating enough new engineers. We either have to make it a more attractive career, or deal with the consequences of solving challenges such as urbanisation, climate change, and energy generation, without enough qualified people. A recognised professional status, such as EngTech, will help with early career development, and should make apprenticeships more comparable with the traditional graduate route many young people take to progress in the world of design and engineering.” Jon Prichard CEng FICE FInstRE, the Engineering Council CEO, said: “The Engineering Council fully supports the EngTechNow campaign. Increasing the number of professionally registered technicians is a vital step in delivering future growth and prosperity for the UK.”
