Student engineer numbers fall by a quarter

In this time, however, success rates in the subject have risen 3% to 74% in but the decrease in new students is a worrying trend, the ETB says. Conversely, there are signs of an upturn in UK engineering student numbers at university. Over the last five years, the number of home acceptances onto engineering and technology degree courses has increased by 12%. By engineering discipline this equates to a UK student increase over the last five years of:

52% in civil engineering.

17.8% in mechanical engineering.

16.4% in chemical, process and energy engineering.

14.8% in general engineering.

14.7% in aerospace engineering.

In terms of international competition, China has recorded a 124% increase in science and engineering degrees over the past decade to 350,000 per year. ETB chief executive John Morton said: “It is great news to see increases in the number of UK engineering undergraduates, but the huge decrease in the number of students on engineering courses in further education is making the Leitch review seem less like a warning, and more of a reality.”

The research is included in Engineering UK 2006, a statistical guide to labour supply and demand in engineering and technonlogy, and can be found online at www.etechb.co.uk/engineeringuk2006.