A partnership to promote science, engineering and technology ENGINEERING THE ECONOMY EPC Brighton Congress 2005 Peter Williams.

A partnership to promote science, engineering and technology

ENGINEERING THE ECONOMY

EPC Brighton Congress 2005

Peter Williams

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The ‘Brave New World’ post 16.3.05

Following the Brown ‘Budget for Science’:

• Where are we today & what is our natural constituency?

• What are our goals and ambitions?

• How can we afford to achieve them?

But first………

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….. this?

….or this?

So what is ‘engineering’?

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……or this?

……or this?

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My problem is that…….

….having spent timebuilding this……

…..to accomplishthis…..

…….I can’t see the boundaries any more!

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So what’s our market?

• Can we any longer talk about just E, or S, or T?

• And what about M for Mathematics?

Has fragmentation had an impact on the following issues……..?

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Long-term Decline in Maths, Physicsand Chemistry at ‘A’ Level Entry

• In thirteen years there has been a:

? 48% decrease in physicsA-level

? 43% in maths

? 28% in chemistry

? 11% increase in biologyA-level.

010,00020,00030,00040,00050,00060,00070,00080,00090,000

Physics Maths Chemistry Biology

Year

Source: AQA Assessment & Qualification Alliance (Data applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland)

Pupils Taking Maths, Sciences, Designand Technology at A or AS Level

2004

8

0

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

30,000

Bio Sci PhysicalSci

Maths &Comp Sci

E & T

2000 2002 2004 • Increase dominated by Biosciences (+75%).

• 5% increase in Physical Sciences.

• 16% drop in Maths & Comp Sci

• 7% increase in Engineering and Technology.Source: UCAS Annual Reports & Datasets

UK Students Entering University to takeEngineering, Technology or Science Degrees

Varied Increasein UK SET Students Entering University

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ACADEMICS WARN OF FINANCIAL CRISIS THREATENING CHEMISTRY TEACHING IN UNIVERSITIES

“As scientists hail the government's success in shoring up research laboratories, they say a new crisis is threatening university science teaching - with chemistry facing the greatest threat.”

Financial Times 30th November 2004

BUT:

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……and it’s an international issue :Korea Times, 19th July 2004

“Currently in Korea, the talk of the town is the growing crisis in science andengineering. A sense of urgency is beingsharply felt after a survey of 33% of KAISTstudents said they intended to switch to secure careers, such as medicine, pharmacy and law”

Korean Scholastic aptitude test for maths, science and engineering down from 43% in 1994 to 27% today

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Can we really seek to influencethese choices?

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Or should our prime focus be the needs of industry and theirskills agenda?

0

5 0 ,0 0 0

1 0 0 ,0 0 0

1 5 0 ,0 0 0

2 0 0 ,0 0 0

2 5 0 ,0 0 0

3 0 0 ,0 0 0

C E n g IE n g E n g .T e c h

A ll

1 9 8 4 1 9 9 42 0 0 2 2 0 0 4

Source: Engineering Council UK) and Engineers for Britain, Digest of Engineering Statistics.

Number of Registered Engineers

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i.e. isn’t the UK economy the real agenda?

What would they think?

*ETB Corporate Partners

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ETB report to Treasury April 2004

Follow up report 05/06 ‘SET & City’

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But it’s a Changing Landscape:

‘Lombard’, FT, January 2004 : “Creative Capitalist Destruction in Action”

Only four* of the FTSE100 ‘Engineers’ survived on 20th anniversary of Index.

*BAe, GKN, Rolls Royce + Vodafone (new)

But SET-related sectors produced £252.3 billion, 27.3% of total UK value added 2002.

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Wealth Creation and SET : how to measure?

FTSE 100

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But the Dot Com legacy lives on………..

techMARK FTSE 100 FTSE 250

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And even though‘Tech’ has beatenthe rest since1997……..

We still pay toomuch in dividendsvs. R&D

UK productivity levels lag behind those of many of leading G8 with output per employed worker around 30% below the US and 15% below France and Germany

And………….

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However……..

• Policy

• Role models & Careers

• Cultural barriers

If SET is key to future industrial competitiveness, how to tackle

issues?

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EducationalSupply & theyoung

SETCommunity

Government

Where do we start?

Businessneeds

Fixing the Problem :

Institutions

Trade associations

SSC’s

Cpe

Business Links

SETNETWISE

NESTA

EEF

HEFCE

UUK

LSC

RDA’sCRAC

Demand for SET SkillsDemand for SET Skills

RAEng

British

Association

Royal

Society

Supply of SET SkillsSupply of SET Skills

DfES

ETB

South East Asian Model :Demand for SET SkillsDemand for SET Skills

Supply of SET SkillsSupply of SET Skills

Government

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UK Government role………?

• Taxation effects on demand side

• Procurement

BUT

• Key role on supply side, e.g. education

• HE funding issues

• Teacher supply

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The mostimportantrole modelof all….

But only 10%careers staffhave any SETexperience

Almost the “Greatest Briton”……

……….. And half French!!

Michael Faraday : from bookbinder……….

…..to foundation of the world’s industries

Engineering or Art?

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Role models or………………. iconicobjects e.g. in thebuilt environment

The Great Exhibition, 1851

Ruskin on The Crystal Palace:

“The quality and bodily industry which the Crystal Palace expresses is very great. So far it is good. The quantity of thought it expresses is, I suppose, a single and admirable thought …. that it might be possible to build a greenhouse larger than ever greenhouse was built before. This thought and some very ordinary algebra are as much as all that glass can represent of human intellect.”

CP Snow, ‘The Two Cultures’, 1959

“A good many times, I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of scientists. Once or twice, I have been provoked and have asked the company how many could describe the second law of thermodynamics. The response was cold; it was also negative.”

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Vannevar Bush*:

“The impact of science is making a new world, and the engineer is in the forefront of this remaking…He builds great cities, and also builds the means whereby they may be destroyed. Certainly there was never a profession that more truly needed the professional spirit, if the welfare of man is to be preserved”

*1945 report ‘Science – the Endless Frontier’ set vision for NSF

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The end Product : SET ‘Captains of Industry’ and their skills base

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……populated by the people of tomorrow