Energy giant Shell has launched its new £1 million investment programme aimed at addressing Scotland's skills shortages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The Tomorrow’s Engineers programme aims to provide hands-on engineering experience to pupils aged between 11-14 years old as industry looks to fill an estimated 160,000 engineering jobs by 2020.
Shell estimates the average UK annual shortfall in those with engineering skills is currently running at circa 81,000 and estimates between 2010 and 2020 Scotland will need to recruit 160,000 people with engineering skills to meet expected demand.
This will mean doubling the current number of graduate and apprenticeship engineers.
The Perkins Review of Engineering Skills, published in November 2013 by Professor John Perkins, chief scientific adviser at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, recommended co-ordinated action from employers to address the country’s STEM skills-shortage and recommended industry address the shortage through Tomorrow’s Engineers, a school science and engineering careers programme run by EngineeringUK.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said it would make £49 million available to boost engineering skills, which had included £250,000 to fund the Tomorrow’s Engineers programme.
From January 2014, £30 million of the £49 million funding pledge was made available to employers to bid for match-funding for training schemes.
Shell has now pledged more than £1million to expand the Tomorrow’s Engineers programme across the UK, with the programme having already reached 217 secondary schools across Scotland.
Speaking at the Aberdeen launch event today alongside Jenny Marra MSP and Paul Jackson, chief executive of EngineeringUK, Erik Bonino, chairman of Shell UK, said: “Scotland is famous across the globe as a pioneer of innovation, with world-changing breakthroughs from the likes of James Watt, Alexander Graham Bell and John Logie Baird.
“The North Sea is one example of an economic success that was only made possible through the innovation and ingenuity of scientists and engineers.
“But the on-going shortage of technical skills risks jeopardising the country’s success.
“We need to inspire the next generation of Scottish scientists and engineers, and this starts in the classroom. Shell’s investment will enable today’s students to unearth hidden talents and help them become the innovators of tomorrow.”
Paul Jackson, chief executive of EngineeringUK, added: “Tomorrow’s Engineers focuses on helping young people understand the variety, excitement and opportunity presented by a career in engineering, so that an equal number of girls and boys aspire to become an engineer and UK employers get the engineers they need.
“If we are to tackle the skills shortage head on we need to attract more women into the industry.
“Only seven per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce is female.
“Research shows that girls who have participated in the Tomorrow’s Engineers programme are 50 per cent more likely to cite engineering as a desirable career choice. We want to build on this success.”