OPINION
and in particular the article, entitled ‘Britain loses its knack for engineering’? It is a dismal article for engineers as it points out the decreasing percentage of university engineering students from the UK, and the increasing percentage of students from the Far East, particularly China. On thinking over this statement, I realised that CIBSE may have been in a more parlous state had not so many applications for membership come from Hong Kong and the Far East over the last 20 years. So, where are we going wrong
in the UK? I have written to the CIBSE Journal in the past on the decreasing number of students taking physics and maths at school and, in addition, Dr Alan Smithers at the University of Buckingham has produced several reports on the problems associated with the decrease of physics-educated teachers in schools. So, what are our members
doing about the education cliff edge that, in my view, is fast approaching? How many have signed up as STEM ambassadors to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics to school students? I believe that the CIBSE hierarchy discussed this problem earlier this year, but note that this latest supplement makes no mention of the UK engineers gap that is fast approaching. The supplement does comment on how we should ‘take care’ of young engineers when they arrive in the industry, but if we do not actually gain suffi cient entrants, then there will be few engineers to take care of. The supplement shows that
CIBSE is looking forward. However, I believe that it is missing one of the prime facets of our industry, namely the fl ow of candidates into the industry. If we do not do something now, we will be accused, correctly, of
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taking our eye off the ball. Ken McDougall
Teach the teachers The episode featuring the teacher’s dismissal of engineering is a brilliant illustration of one of the things that is wrong with our society – no realisation of where the UK’s net income comes from (see ‘Lost for words’ letter, CIBSE Journal, November 2012 issue). And slightly more subtle – no realisation that successful reality comes from the bottom up, via engineers, doctors, some city gents and other hands-on techies, and does not descend from above as ‘upstream’ or ‘high level’ conceptualisations and policies. Nice to get that one off my
chest, but perhaps the best response would have been: ‘No, I don’t think so, he will be too busy earning the money that pays for your salary, healthcare, street cleaning, food, clothing....’ Regards, and do congratulate
Catherine Applegate for telling us about the teacher’s comment that obviously blew her mind. John Moss , consultant, Arup Advanced Technology and Research
If you can’t do engineering... As requested, herewith my suggested response to the teacher’s comment: ‘Well, I guess if he doesn’t prove clever enough to become a chartered engineer he could always get a job teaching.’ Stuart Bridgman BScEng MCIBSE
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