Investor and entrepreneur Sir James Dyson has been at the forefront of the UK’s manufacturing sector for several decades now, with his experience and inventiveness paving the way for a new generation of engineers to succeed internationally.
This goal has been further boosted this week with a £12 million investment into the future of the industry in the UK, to be channelled into the creation of a new engineering school to address the “dearth” of new talent in this country.
The school, located in a commercial property in South Kensington previously owned by the Science Museum, will be known as the Dyson School of Design Engineering and will be associated with the prestigious Imperial College in the capital city. Although the building will not be ready to welcome students until 2017, courses will open this October as the college has allowed Sir James to make use of the extensive facilities it controls in London.
Only 40 places will be offered on an undergraduate basis per year for the four year course for the next two years, although this will rise to 90 per year when works on the Exhibition Road premises are complete.
Sir James hopes that this will encourage budding engineers to apply for a place on the course and thereby elevate national interest in the field – something he believes is essential should the UK continue to be seen as a manufacturing giant on a global scale.
He says; “We’re suicidally under-producing engineers.
“Only 40,000 qualify each year, which means there will be a shortfall of half a million by 2020.
“China produces two million engineers a year and Iran and the Philippines produce more than we do.”
Sir James has, for some time now, been very vocal about the UK’s pressing need for more engineers, especially now that the economy has improved and a greater number of firms are seeking to re-shore their manufacturing operations. If firms cannot find the talent to staff their premises, there is a risk that they will take their businesses elsewhere in Europe, especially given the internationally recognised prowess of the industry in countries such as Germany.
According to a study conducted jointly by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the engineering sector accounts for around a fifth of gross value added to the British economy each year with an average income generation of £280 billion per annum.
Yet unless a further 64,000 engineers qualify by the end of the present decade, there is a very real risk that the UK will fall behind the rest of the world and will lose out on the growth potential of this very active market.
Having already pledged to create up to 3,000 new jobs at Dyson’s UK research and development base in Wiltshire with a £250 million investment, Sir James Dyson is certainly paving the way for firms looking for ways to encourage young people to get into engineering. Hopefully this new school will further this work and will allow the UK to remain a competitor in the manufacturing sector.
Do you think the school will help reduce the skills shortage in engineering?
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