Overview

We drive change so more young people choose engineering and technology careers.

There aren't enough people working in engineering and technology and demand is going up. So, we need more young people to realise there could be a future for them in those careers. Many of them don't understand what the opportunities are and the different ways to get into them. We want to change that. We need a stronger, more representative workforce for engineering and technology to thrive and we have to things differently to make those careers more attractive. We want more young people to see engineering and technology could offer them a varied and rewarding career.

We are a not-for-profit working with hundreds of organisations so we can all grow the future talent pool together. We need more people and more diversity and we all have a part to play in achieving that.

We can't afford not to work together. At EngineeringUK, we drive that collective effort through research and evidence, leadership, activities for schools and advocacy, with a focus on long-term sustainability. All our work is delivered in line with our values. 

In 2022/23 we thoroughly reviewed, consulted on, and widely tested a strategy designed to take EngineeringUK to 2028. September 2023 marked the start of this new 5-year strategy, one that is based on our mission to enable more young people from all backgrounds to be informed, inspired and progress into engineering and technology.

Our vision is for the UK to have the diverse workforce needed for engineering and technology to thrive and to drive economic prosperity, improve sustainability and achieve net zero.

We will play our role in achieving this in 4 ways:

• Research and evidence - establishing the composition of the current engineering, technology & technician workforce, future workforce needs and how to address them
• Leadership - leading efforts to grow the collective impact of all engineering and technology inspiration and careers activities with young people of school age
• Activities for schools - expanding EngineeringUK’s engagement to encourage more, and more diverse, young people into engineering, technician and tech roles
• Advocacy – providing advocacy and support to address policy and delivery challenges in STEM and careers education and workforce planning for engineering and tech

Our commitments to environmental sustainability and equity, diversity and inclusion underpin all our work. Knowing that environmental sustainability is a topic that’s important to young people, we use it as a way to inspire them about engineering and technology careers. Organisationally we commit to reducing our environmental impact and becoming a Net Zero organisation, reducing all carbon emissions by at least 90% by 2040 in line with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). By focussing our school activity on inspiring more young people from groups underrepresented in engineering, so they are better informed about careers in engineering and technology and the variety of routes into those, we aim to improve both the number and diversity of those joining the sector’s workforce.

In 2023/24 our plans comprise:

Carrying out and publishing research and evidence which supports our own and the wider community’s activity, including:

• Statistics on the composition of the engineering and technology workforce and its future needs
• Analysis of the educational pathways into engineering and technology
• Young people’s views on science education and careers and knowledge/attitudes towards engineering careers (in partnership with the Royal Society)
• Evaluation of our schools activity
• Methodology to evaluate the impact of multiple engagements on young people’s later attitudes and choices

Through our research we provide a clear picture of the current engineering and technology workforce as well as future needs and how to address them. We share our evidence widely, so careers information is accurate, inclusive and impactful, policy development is better informed and so that all engineering and technology engagement activities are inclusive and inspire the next generation.

We also share our evaluation findings and tools so that everyone involved in engineering outreach can monitor and evaluate the impact of their work.

Leading efforts to grow collective impact, including:

• Adding more activities on Neon, growing reach with primary schools and careers guidance practitioners
• Recruiting 50 Signatories and supporting the Tomorrow’s Engineers Code community
• Delivering the Tomorrow’s Engineers Live conference
• Embedding a new offer of support for Professional Engineering Institutions
• Growing our Corporate Membership
• Working with STEM Learning, Professional Engineering Institutions and Corporate Members to understand and promote their use of STEM Ambassadors
• Increasing engagement with SMEs

Working together we can ensure more students participate in quality engineering and tech experiences. We can also improve the coordination, inclusivity, targeting, efficiency and impact of engagements and create and share relevant, inspiring and accessible careers resources.

Delivering activities for schools

A student helps build a bridge from K’NEX

We are keen to expand our own activities for schools to encourage more, and more diverse, young people into engineering, technician and tech roles. We use our expertise to focus our work on 11 to 14s while prioritising content related to sustainability and are currently developing a new programme around renewables.

We aim to increase the reach and impact of our activities for young people through targeting, testing and iteration. We target our programmes to students from groups underrepresented in engineering, offer bursaries to break down barriers to participation and regularly consult with teachers and young people to refine and improve our offer to them.

We are behind the Big Bang – The Big Bang Competition, The Big Bang Fair and Big Bang at School – helping young people across the UK discover exciting possibilities and connect to inspiring role models in STEM. Notable Big Bang dates this year: 

• The Big Bang Fair at the NEC, Birmingham,19 to 21 June 2024
• The Big Bang Competition, which closes for entries at the end of March 2024 and includes a new technology stream

We're also really proud of Neon, which helps primary and secondary teachers introduce their students to future STEM careers, raise their aspirations and explore excitement of engineering, through brilliant activities, and up-to-date careers resources and inspiring case studies.

We celebrate inspirational engineers throughout the year and lead the annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week each November, shining a spotlight on engineering careers.

This year we are also piloting a new cross-curricular Climate Schools Programme with 50 schools. 

Advocacy

We want to see policy and delivery challenges in STEM and careers education addressed as well as those in workforce planning for engineering and technology.

So, we advocate for policy improvements to help ensure young people get the opportunities they need to go into engineering and tech. We also actively support vocational routes we can grow the number of young people going into engineering and tech careers.

Our advocacy work this year includes:

• Policy work with the National Engineering Policy Centre in the run-up to the general election
• Supporting greater awareness and understanding of T Levels with employers and young people
• Launching and following up on the apprenticeship inquiry

EngineeringUK is the working name of The Engineering and Technology Board, a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England No. 4322409, Registered Charity No.1089678.