HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2024 KEYNOTES
people from groups underrepresented in the workforce to maximise our impact. We also have a whole load of ‘Big Bang at School’ events occurring more locally.” The EngineeringUK speaker said those keen to get involved could find and talk to her, or email her, to find out more. Asking delegates to ‘think about what more you could do for young people’, she added: “For instance, of huge benefit to budding young engineers are offers of work experience, the industrial placements that accompany T Levels, and offering apprenticeships, as indeed are amplifying and participating in the work that others are doing.” In concluding, she told the conference: “You’re in a
very inspiring area for young people. They like to follow their interests, and to be paid well and have job security – knowing they are in areas of high employment, but they also want social purpose and to make a difference, for example towards the Net Zero goals, and I see all these opportunities here. So, do feel confident in selling your wares, and please sign up to the Code if it’s something that’s appropriate for you.” Having thanked the audience for listening, she handed back to Pete Sellars – who thanked her, and introduced the session’s second speaker, Professor John Chudley, Chair of the Engineering Council, who he explained would be discussing the importance of professional registration and the international agenda, and the organisation’s Five Year Vision.
Professional registration, and the routes to it Professor Chudley said that while he would indeed discuss professional registration, he was as keen to emphasise the importance of valuing all routes to it. He said: “We tend to talk about degrees, and accredited degrees, but I think we have lost sight of valuing all routes, i.e. apprenticeships, etc., and going through with experiential learning.” His message was that the Engineering Council ‘does not prescribe, but values all routes’. Moving to his own motivation for becoming an engineer, the Professor showed a slide of him on a motocross bike in his younger days. He said: “It’s not just an excuse to show myself on a motocross bike aged 17, but this is really about the challenge for EngineeringUK in getting young people interested in engineering; the things we used to do are being lost, and engineering is getting hidden behind other things without realising it.” He continued: “I did an engineering apprenticeship, rather than the standard route to becoming a Chartered Engineer, but the only reason I got into engineering was that I wanted to make that bike lighter. “Before speaking to you all today,” he added, “I wondered how I could link my motocross riding days
back to the conference and being here with IHEEM.” To do this, he showed slides of two of his own knee X-rays side by side pre- and post-falling off the bike. He said: “How exciting is the engineering in those X-rays – the material, the additive, and manufacturing etc. involved; the cross-sector work of engineering. The technology is phenomenal, and we must get that message out.” Focusing next on the Engineering Council’s key functions,
Prof. Chudley explained that as the UK regulatory body for the engineering profession, it holds the national registers of nearly 223,000 Engineering Technicians, Incorporated Engineers, Chartered Engineers, and Information and Communications Technology Technicians. He said: “It’s important to say that it’s under license through the PEIs – the Professional Engineering Institutions – that you can become professionally registered. We thus license the 39 PEIs to register on our behalf. It’s thus vital that we work together, but many people have never heard of the Engineering Council, because it sits behind the PEIs. However, I think registration is extremely important for the industry – from the point of view of competence etc., in allowing us – for the public benefit – to ensure that things are safe and regulated for the environment we work in.”
Registrant numbers currently ‘flat-lining’ Professor Chudley acknowledged that the number of professional registrants was currently ‘flat-lining’ – and said the Engineering Council feels there should be many more. He told delegates: “I think we need to look at the register, and work with the PEIs to see how we can best address this. What I now want to pick up on – via this slide
Above left: The ‘emergent workforce planning system’ includes key Government departments and other bodies – such as the Migration Advisory Committee and the Labour Market Advisory Board, involved in current and future workforce policy and planning strategy.
Above: EngineeringUK says it ‘aims to enable, inspire, and inform more young people from all backgrounds to choose engineering and technology careers’.
Dr Hilary Leevers, the first to speak, explained that EngineeringUK – a not-for- profit organisation which works to ‘drive change so more young people choose engineering and technology’ – had been working closely with IHEEM over the last year.
January 2025 Health Estate Journal 39
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