Engineering news
As A-level, T-level and BTEC results were released today (14 August), figures from admissions service Ucas showed that engineering and technology courses had the largest percentage increase in placed students this year. 30,020 applicants secured university places, a 12.5% increase on last year’s 26,680.
The increase is “encouraging”, said IMechE education and skills policy lead Lydia Amarquaye, but there are ongoing concerns around the supply and demand of university places. She referred to recent research by Universities UK, which showed that high-cost courses including engineering are struggling to keep up with demand due to insufficient funding.
“Lab-based subjects, or subjects that need high-cost equipment and facilities like engineering, computing and physical science, cost more to run than the standard domestic tuition fee. Universities receive a grant from government to cover these extra costs, but this extra funding is not enough to bridge the gap,” the organisation said in May.
The research showed that the proportion of university places allocated to high-cost courses fell from 52% in 2015-16 to 47% in 2023-24, while applications grew by 14% between 2019 and 2024.
This disparity is a “cause for concern”, Amarquaye said, particularly as the government’s recent Industrial Strategy identified engineering as a key component of many of its priority sectors. “We continue to call on government to support the university sector in addressing the supply/demand gap for high-cost courses such as engineering,” she said.
The increase in accepted applicants is “brilliant news for the sector and suggests that efforts to attract more young people into engineering and technology are starting to pay off,” said Becca Gooch, head of research at education-focused EngineeringUK. “With employers in need of more talent, it’s vital that we have a variety of accessible pathways and systems in place to facilitate the increased demand.”
She added: “With so much growth and endless opportunities to make a real-world impact, it’s a really exciting time to embark on a career in engineering and technology. From climate change to digital transformation – wherever students’ interests lie and whatever their preferred pathway might be, they can be assured of a rewarding and varied career.”
The organisation was also “delighted” to see a 56.2% increase in entries to engineering and technology T-levels, Gooch said, taking the total to 5,643 students. The proportion of girls increased from 9% to 12%, which she said was positive but “still low”.
At A-level, the group was “pleased” to see an increased uptake among some key subjects, including maths (up 4.4%), physics (up 4.3%) and further maths (up 7.2%).
“When looking at the gender breakdown, it’s great to see the 4.3% growth in physics was driven by a 7.9% increase in entries from girls. There was also a 3.3% increase in female entries for D&T [design and technology], higher than the small increase (0.3%) seen overall,” she said.
“Women are currently under-represented in engineering and technology, with just 16.9% of the workforce being female. And while there’s still more to be done to increase the uptake among girls of the STEM subjects that typically offer a route into engineering and technology, today’s results show things are moving in the right direction.”
IMechE is working with employers and Skills England to ensure regional opportunities for young people to join the engineering workforce, Amarquaye added, including those who took BTECs and other “crucial” vocational routes.
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