How bad is it in the UK? 16

[Berko]

Folks,

An interesting discussion.

I served a toolmakers apprenticeship within the UK Nuclear industry in the late 1980's. In 1987 when I started my training we had 8000 people on site, when I left in 1991 there were less than 2000 ! This was due to Government cutbacks, however this trend seemed to apply to a lot of the UK's Engineering industries during this time.

I got myself a Mechanical Engineering degree & then realised that whilst I loved what I did for a living, I was never going to get rich doing it.

I have been living in Australia now for 5 years. The money for Graduate Engineers seems to be better, the standard of living is much better & Engineers seem to be held in higher regard.

I would dearly love to return to the UK someday, however unless the way Ol Blighty treats her Engineers changes drastically, I'll probably be staying put in Oz.

Just remember, it will only take 3 to 4 decades of no apprenticeships + the steady reduction of graduate engineers going through the education system to totally wipe out UK Engineering on the world map.

Even Australia (who traditionally have imported most of their skilled workers) is increasing the number of apprenticeships available & is actively promoting that young people learn a trade. If this keeps up, the worm may turn & the UK may one day have to start importing Aussie Engineers.

I had an Aussie plumber in at work recently, who proudly told me that he was trained (clearly very well) by an English tradesman during his apprenticeship.

Note: When starting Uni in 1991, the Whitworth Scholarship was the scholarship to win. It is a very sad state of affairs how times have changed.

Berko

 

[corus]

Strangely, although there is a shortage of engineers in the UK, the old formula of supply and demand doesn't appear to apply regarding salaries. A quote from the site

http://www.citb.co.uk/futureskills/default.asp

might explain why :

"Another underlying factor, which must also be considered, is that of image and the decline of engineering as a position with high social standing. Engineering has traditionally been seen as a celebrated profession, equal to say medicine or law, but unnecessary and out of context use of the term ‘engineer’ together with poor corporate communication has resulted in an adverse perception of the profession (Fairs 2002)."

I blame management.



corus

 

[ScottyUK]

I blame management.

They aren't without guilt, but much of the blame should be directed at our professional bodies. The IEE, IMechE, etc. are failing us by allowing this to happen. They should be actively and vociferously lobbying government to raise the status of engineering.

The decline of our manufacturing base and the loss of the major engineering organisations, both state and private sector, has undoubtably contributed further to the decline of our profession.


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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

 

[MikeyP]

It looks like my incoherent rant of 1st of June was not so incoherent after all

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4629955.stm

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten