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As we bid farewell to 2016 and welcome in the new year, it gives us a chance to take stock of the past 12 months and to plan for the future.
It’s difficult to summarise such an eventful year for engineering and industry, but what has been consistently heard at PE, as in previous years, is the call for more engineers.
The steady drumbeat of companies and organisations complaining of skills shortages has always risked overstating the problem. I know from personal experience that some companies are eager for publicity and see engineering skills as a neutral and pliable issue. Often, some of the extraordinary numbers flouted in headlines don’t seem to fit anecdotally with what we hear at PE.
The Brexit vote earlier this year threw a curveball at the business establishment in the UK, as well at our political leaders. Neither were expecting the result that was returned. One of the effects we’ve noticed has been an intensification in the noise being made about skills shortages.
Many in industry and academia campaigned against Brexit because they are worried about the removal of free movement rights and the introduction of immigration controls. The concern is that tighter controls will damage the ability to recruit skilled engineers and technicians, harm collaborative research projects and make it more difficult to do business.
Government has been sympathetic to this position. However, recently the suggestion from some in government is that the availability of skilled workers from the EU has enabled companies to skimp on training and development. That open borders has meant the education system has been allowed to lose its edge with technical skills.
The same thinking continues that restricting access to skilled workers from the EU will force companies to invest more in their current and future staff, in order to ensure that they remain competitive and to guarantee their future profit margins.
That a deficit exists for properly trained people with vocational qualifications is undeniable. The extent of that deficit is debatable. It may be that the free movement of workers is playing a role in engineering skills shortages, but blaming them entirely on the EU risks oversimplifying the problem.
It also risks laziness with the solution, when there is fantastic work going on. There’s an abundance of successful initiatives banging the drum for engineering. Stem Insights, which the IMechE is part of, is worthy of promotion. The programme puts teachers and teaching assistants in industry placements to raise awareness of engineering. It’s taking direct action to address a gap in knowledge within the education system and has proven results.
Over the next year Brexit will serve to highlight the need for more engineers. There are no quick and easy solutions. But surely, before we cut off external access to skills and talent, we should get our own house in order. Government should prioritise this above all else.