Thank you for sharing this work and contributing to the research! I found it very interesting; I believe the data you received in the surveys to be agreeable with my general feelings too. The government needs to get their act together if they want engineering to flourish in this country; companies need vast funding to buy new machinery, employ ‘Engineers’ and support further professional development to remain current with other highly regarded countries. I feel that the “Made in Britain” label no longer carries the same value it had in the past.


I've provided some additional in-depth feedback below.


I believe there's little to engage young people with engineering; it's not an easy subject, but it's a rewarding career if you're willing to put in the effort. We are conditioned to expect instant gratification; I believe young people are being led into an illusion by pre-Univesity education, which leads to poor choices. Academic inflation is something we need to get comfortable with; we, therefore, need to make sure degrees are relevant to the requirements of the economy and provide funding where necessary. We wish an 18-year-old student to have known what they want from life since they were at least 13; I don't think this is a realistic expectation, which may be why we don't have as many students on engineering courses. I strongly support degree apprenticeships; I believe this is the best route to encourage people of all ages to enter into engineering. One issue I have with universities (as a past student) is the expectation that their students will enter the workforce as competent employees; they overlook the need for real-life experience in their chosen subject and often teach irrelevant content not applicable to the workplace. Degree apprenticeships provide the work experience, employer support and funding opportunities; I believe this model is much more attractive for many who wish to enter a career in engineering. I mentor a young individual in my workplace who is undertaking a degree apprenticeship; he told me that he wouldn't have gone to University if he couldn't access such a course. The company I work for has been able to use their compulsory levy funding to cover the costs; they get a trainee engineer four days a week, and only need pay the salary requirements. I feel many more businesses could benefit from engaging with degree apprenticeships; most want skilled engineers who can hit the ground running, but as is apparent with the potential skills shortage, we don't always have this luxury. If companies can commit to such schemes, they can help build the people they need instead of expecting degree students to have years of experience, which is unrealistic if they're not offering students those opportunities in the first place. 



I briefly want to mention the designation of engineer that’s cited in the research introduction. I think it's disgraceful that the title of ‘Engineer’ isn't protected in the UK; it's so often misused, which waters down the hard work of those who are true engineers. I see many people using the title, which misleads the public into a false sense of security, in turn, devaluing engineers! Many other countries protect the title for this very reason, so why not the UK? We have a legacy from the past of being a great country for engineering; can we claim this anymore. I believe the Engineering Council could do better to lobby this protection; I’d think it’d be in their interest, so how do we engage the IET to pressure them?

Thank you for sharing this work and contributing to the research! I found it very interesting; I believe the data you received in the surveys to be agreeable with my general feelings too. The government needs to get their act together if they want engineering to flourish in this country; companies need vast funding to buy new machinery, employ ‘Engineers’ and support further professional development to remain current with other highly regarded countries. I feel that the “Made in Britain” label no longer carries the same value it had in the past.


I've provided some additional in-depth feedback below.


I believe there's little to engage young people with engineering; it's not an easy subject, but it's a rewarding career if you're willing to put in the effort. We are conditioned to expect instant gratification; I believe young people are being led into an illusion by pre-Univesity education, which leads to poor choices. Academic inflation is something we need to get comfortable with; we, therefore, need to make sure degrees are relevant to the requirements of the economy and provide funding where necessary. We wish an 18-year-old student to have known what they want from life since they were at least 13; I don't think this is a realistic expectation, which may be why we don't have as many students on engineering courses. I strongly support degree apprenticeships; I believe this is the best route to encourage people of all ages to enter into engineering. One issue I have with universities (as a past student) is the expectation that their students will enter the workforce as competent employees; they overlook the need for real-life experience in their chosen subject and often teach irrelevant content not applicable to the workplace. Degree apprenticeships provide the work experience, employer support and funding opportunities; I believe this model is much more attractive for many who wish to enter a career in engineering. I mentor a young individual in my workplace who is undertaking a degree apprenticeship; he told me that he wouldn't have gone to University if he couldn't access such a course. The company I work for has been able to use their compulsory levy funding to cover the costs; they get a trainee engineer four days a week, and only need pay the salary requirements. I feel many more businesses could benefit from engaging with degree apprenticeships; most want skilled engineers who can hit the ground running, but as is apparent with the potential skills shortage, we don't always have this luxury. If companies can commit to such schemes, they can help build the people they need instead of expecting degree students to have years of experience, which is unrealistic if they're not offering students those opportunities in the first place. 



I briefly want to mention the designation of engineer that’s cited in the research introduction. I think it's disgraceful that the title of ‘Engineer’ isn't protected in the UK; it's so often misused, which waters down the hard work of those who are true engineers. I see many people using the title, which misleads the public into a false sense of security, in turn, devaluing engineers! Many other countries protect the title for this very reason, so why not the UK? We have a legacy from the past of being a great country for engineering; can we claim this anymore. I believe the Engineering Council could do better to lobby this protection; I’d think it’d be in their interest, so how do we engage the IET to pressure them?