Tomorrow's Engineers

How do we get Tomorrow's Engineers?

It's a short question with so many answers; I'd be interested to see what other people's thoughts are on this topic. 

I've written a blog around Women in Engineering and then encouraging Tomorrow's Engineers through my experience with Engineers without Borders (EWB-UK) Outreach programme. I currently run the scheme on a National level, however I believe that most impact is made on the ground, going into schools and making a difference; If I am honest I felt I made more of a difference when I was going into schools running Outreach workshops during my time at University.

Today, I have a Masters degree in Engineering, I'm the National Outreach coordinator and I am also on the Engineering Graduate scheme here at Virgin Media. Recently I was lucky enough to be invited to a Women in Engineering roundtable run by UNESCO and the International Gas Union regarding the African and Arab states, to be honest it changed my view on 'Women in Engineering' drastically. Before I went I thought "why the big fuss? Why are we excluding men, when we're trying to include women?" I genuinely could not grasp what the point was - I could understand why we run Outreach in schools and advertise awareness around STEM subjects, but not why we need to push the women aspect. I think part of it was the whole positive discrimination aspect which I have funny feelings about; I'd hate to think that I only got a job because I'm female. But that's not what the push for Women in Engineering is about. 

In the UK we have come on a long way from many of the African and Arab states in terms of cultural and societal acceptance (mainly with thanks to the suffragettes movement which gave women the right to vote) however, we're probably about the same in regards to STEM in education, and women with a STEM education entering the workplace. In fact some of the Arab states beat us with 50-60% of women in Engineering Colleges (University), but less than 5% entering the workforce where as, we have 27% of women studying Engineering at University with less than 6% entering the Engineering workforce.

Engineers can help alleviate poverty; they can engineer a way to deliver clean water to a village so that the villagers don't have to walk miles to collect dirty pond water. Engineers can engineer a way to get energy to a village so they can have electricity at home or in a school or hospital. Engineers can engineer a way to alleviate hunger, by irrigation techniques or even a gravity rope-way to make a journey take 10minutes rather than 5/6 hours [link]. 

The main reason I think we should encourage women & girls to go into engineering specifically is that we can't ignore half the population and hope, they may, one day go into Engineering. In some respects without even thinking we are subtly discouraging half the population from studying STEM subjects with our own preconceived views. Generally speaking, boys from a young age are encouraged to break things, mends thing and get some grazed knees, girls often aren't and are given Barbie dolls to care for - a bit of a sweeping statement since I was given Barbie dolls for Christmases and Birthday's and I am an Engineer now... 

A pretty awesome video by Goldie Blox recently got a lot of press, the company makes engineering toys for girls; I'd recommend a watch.

When we used to run our "What is an Engineer?" workshop I always asked the children what they thought an "Engineer actually is". Unless a child’s Dad or Uncle was an engineer of some sort I usually got the answer "a Mechanic!"... There we have the perfect point to say "Correct! Can you think of any others?!"..... Deathly silence, and so began the workshop. 

I have to admit Telecommunications was not on the list we put together of Engineering professions, as we generally spoke about our degree choices, usually, mechanical, electrical & electronic, civil and general engineering streams plus aeronautical, manufacturing and a few others - even University students need to be made aware of what Virgin Media do!

In November there was a governmental drive to encourage "tomorrow's engineers" it focused on 11-16 year olds, and the organisers asked NGO's and charities who run outreach programmes to encourage the awareness of the Engineering Career directly or indirectly. With just a week of National awareness it gave the following results. The poll was conducted on 11-14 year olds in England and Wales:

• 4% more parents would encourage their child to consider a careers in engineering - from 34% - 38%

• There was also 5% rise in the number of children considering a career in engineering from 40% - 45%

• With a 6% rise in girls who would probably consider a career in engineering from 28% - 34%

• Polling carried out the week after TE week showed that 26% of 11-14 year olds had heard about engineering careers or Tomorrow's Engineers Week during the past couple of weeks. 

[Erin Harvey, Department for Business, Innovation & Skills]

A pretty impressive result on all accounts; it goes to show that awareness towards engineering is so important to change the perception of what an engineer is and what we do.

So, how should we encourage tomorrow's engineers? Through Outreach? Through awareness? More women engineers on TV? Hope they want to be an Engineer?

UNESCO/IGU Women in Engineering Conference

UNESCO/IGU Workshop on Women in Engineering

10^th December 2013

On the 9^th December 2013, I flew out to Paris to attend a “Women in Engineering roundtable for the African and Arab states”. We began the day with 2 minutes of silence for the late Nelson Mandela, who believed in the great power of education, specifically the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects – leading him to set up the Nelson Mandela institute of Science and Technology. 

                There were many inspiring speeches from women and men throughout the day, many of them speaking from their own experience which brought home the message that these issues are real, and they are happening now. Throughout the day I was humbled by the candid way everyone spoke about these issues. It really enabled open and honest conversations from the panel to the audience – which is so important if we want to make good cultural and national changes. 

During the day I heard many shocking statistics, figures and stories being told, for instance, did you know that South Africa needs 2.5 million more engineers to meet the Millennium Development Goals? And that in Tanzania and Zambia there is 1 engineer to every 6,000 people? In the UK we have 1 engineer to every 12 people…

                The reason it is so important to increase the number of engineers throughout the world is because there are 1.1 billion people still without access to clean drinking water, 1 billion People who are hungry and starving, and around 1 billion people without access to electricity.  These are issues that engineers can solve. The reason it is important for women to get into Engineering is that they account for around half of our population (49.65% c. 2011), yet not many women choose to go into STEM careers for a number of reasons: usually due to lack of awareness and education, or societal and culture barriers. It’s unsustainable to discourage half of the population to consider a career in STEM, so there is a drive to actively encourage more women to consider such a career.

The statement which really made me realise how far we have progressed in the UK in terms of technology and engineering, and how far we have moved towards enabling women to move away from traditional roles if they want to is:

“The lack of access to energy is killing people. If water and electricity was available to all, young girls would not spend 20 hours a week collecting firewood and water, as well as doing household chores: they would be at school getting an education or working. Just think about how much the dishwasher and washing machine has done for women in developed countries today.”

Yes, the simple household appliances many of us have has freed up hours of the day for women to pursue their careers or spend more time with their children. Sadly this isn’t the case for the underdeveloped world where many women and girls don’t have the luxury of these appliances and do not have the time to get an education or go to work.

As I am sure you have guessed by now, I could write an essay about all the interesting facts and information I learnt throughout the day, however, for you this would not be very fun, therefore I have created an Infographic poster regarding Women in Engineering. Take a look and see if some of the information comes as a surprise to you… maybe it won’t, but at least you are now more aware about the drive to encourage more women to consider a career in STEM.