By Keir Mudie

Published at 13:39, Thursday, 08 May 2008

ENGINEERING experts and business leaders have launched a drive encouraging young people to become engineers.

In demand: Members of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and business leaders outside Innovia Films in Wigton. From left, David Barrett, Peter Lunt, David Williamson, David Beeby, John Baxter, John Wales, Chris George, Alan Smithson, and Christine Rose

They plan to tackle the skills shortage by encouraging schools to become more involved in engineering through the Teachers Into Engineering project.

Chris George, regional chairman of the north west region of Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), said: “We want people with engineering firms to open their doors and encourage teachers to come in.

“There is a gap in their experience and knowledge when it comes to engineering that we want to address.

“We had a conference on Tuesday night and we decided to launch Teachers into Engineering.

“If you look at west Cumbria, for example, you can see how important a part of the economy engineering is.

“It is responsible for a third of the economy, which is 30,000 jobs. Only a small part of that is 100 per cent nuclear.

“We want to target the next generation of engineers.”

IMechE-backed research shows that 70 per cent of 16-19 year-olds in the UK do not know what an engineer is.

With the average age of an engineer being 58, IMechE is working closely with the Government and industry to promote and encourage more young people to enter the profession.

The skills conference was part of a two-day visit to Cumbria by John Baxter, president of IMechE, who met groups including Business Link North West, Gen II, Lakes College West Cumbria, James Walker and Innovia Films to assess the situation.

Mr Baxter, who is also group head of engineering at BP, attended the Tuesday night conference at Jennings Brewery in Cockermouth, as well as touring a number of firms in the area. The visit highlighted how traditional engineering needs to keep pace with the energy sector.

Findings from IMechE research identified the UK energy sector as rapidly changing and skills shortages found that could be a big issue for the region.

At a recent IMechE conference in London, attended by John Hutton, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, it was revealed that nuclear new-build will see a 300 per cent increase in demand for apprentices over the next 10 years alone.

Professor Richard Clegg, of Manchester University’s Dalton Nuclear Institute, said investment in the region was happening but he had seen a sharp rise in the number of people enrolling on nuclear courses to cope with demand.

Plans are in place in the region to create a £20m laboratory which will be a joint venture between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the university.

It will initially house around 60 staff and postgraduate students and will be built on the Westlakes Science and Technology Park, near Whitehaven, and have close links with the existing British Technology Centre (BTC) at Sellafield.

Prof Clegg said: “Cumbria has a proud heritage of engineering history, but the UK needs more engineers to cope with this demand and the work that will be brought our way with the building of new nuclear power stations.”

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk