Transcript Slide 1

ENGINEERING THE
ECONOMY
EPC Brighton Congress 2005
Peter Williams
A partnership to promote science, engineering and technology
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………
2
So what is ‘engineering’?
….. this?
….or this?
3
……or this?
……or this?
4
My problem is that…….
….having spent time
building this……
…..to accomplish
this…..
…….I can’t see the boundaries any more!
5
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……..?
6
Long-term Decline in Maths, Physics
and Chemistry at ‘A’ Level Entry
Pupils Taking Maths, Sciences, Design
and Technology at A or AS Level
P h y s ic s
M a th s
C h e m is try
B io lo g y
90,000
80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0
has been a:
? 48% decrease in
02
? 43% in maths
? 28% in chemistry
? 11% increase in
20
98
19
94
19
19
90
physics
A-level
Year
Source:
• In thirteen years there
AQA Assessment & Qualification Alliance (Data
applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
7
biology
A-level.
Varied Increase in UK SET Students
Entering University
UK Students Entering University to take
Engineering, Technology or Science Degrees
2000
2002
2004
• Increase dominated
by Biosciences
(+75%).
30,000
25,000
• 5% increase in
20,000
Physical Sciences.
15,000
• 16% drop in Maths
10,000
& Comp Sci
5,000
• 7% increase in
0
Bio Sci
Source:
Physical Maths &
E&T
Sci
Comp Sci
UCAS Annual Reports & Datasets
8
Engineering and
Technology.
BUT:
Financial Times 30th November 2004
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.”
9
……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 and
engineering. A sense of urgency is being
sharply felt after a survey of 33% of KAIST
students 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
10
Can we really seek to influence
these choices?
11
Or should our prime focus be the needs of
industry and their skills agenda?
Number of Registered Engineers
1 9 8 4
1 9 9 4
2 0 0 2
2 0 0 4
3 0 0 ,0 0 0
2 5 0 ,0 0 0
2 0 0 ,0 0 0
1 5 0 ,0 0 0
1 0 0 ,0 0 0
5 0 ,0 0 0
0
C E n g
IE n g
E n g .
T e c h
Source:
Engineering Council UK) and Engineers for Britain,
Digest of Engineering Statistics.
12
A ll
What would they think?
i.e. isn’t the UK economy the real agenda?
13
*ETB Corporate Partners
ETB report to Treasury April 2004
Follow up report 05/06 ‘SET & City’
14
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.
But SET-related sectors produced £252.3
billion, 27.3% of total UK value added 2002.
*BAe, GKN, Rolls Royce + Vodafone (new)
15
Wealth Creation and SET : how to measure?
16
FTSE 100
But the Dot Com legacy lives on………..
techMARK
FTSE 100
17
FTSE 250
And even though
‘Tech’ has beaten
the rest since
1997……..
We still pay too
much in dividends
vs. R&D
18
And………….
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
However……..
If SET is key to future industrial
competitiveness, how to tackle issues?
• Policy
• Role models & Careers
• Cultural barriers
20
Where do we start?
Educational
Supply & the
young
Government
SET
Community
Business
needs
21
Fixing the Problem :
Demand for SET Skills
Supply of SET Skills
South East Asian Model :
Demand for SET Skills
Government
Supply of SET Skills
UK Government role………?
• Taxation effects on demand side
• Procurement
BUT
• Key role on supply side, e.g. education
• HE funding issues
• Teacher supply
24
The most
important
role model
of all….
But only 10%
careers staff
have any SET
experience
25
Almost the “Greatest Briton”……
……….. And half French!!
Michael Faraday : from bookbinder……….
…..to foundation of the world’s industries
Engineering or Art?
Role models or…
……………. iconic
objects e.g. in the
built environment
30
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.”
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
34
The end Product : SET ‘Captains of
Industry’ and their skills base
35
……populated by the people of tomorrow
36