Wikipedia lists 30 different engineering
jobs under its fields of engineering entry. It’s an undeniable
fact that much of our quality of life is the direct result of
the men and women, past and present, of the discipline of
engineering. Nowadays, there are very few exceptions where an
individual can go through an entire day without using something
that was designed by some sort of engineer.
If we take the word engineering to its very
basic meaning and examine its ancient, now obsolete, concept,
it would become even more difficult to find any individual on
Earth whose life isn’t impacted by this fantastic
profession.
The word was originated from the Latin word
ingenium, which also originated the word ingenious. In fact, in
ancient times, the word engine referred to something that
ingeniously made to solve a problem or serve a purpose. In
those days, the word was used mainly in connection with
military contraptions.
A lot of the inventions that the Ancients
considered ingenious are considered simple and taken for
granted in today’s world. For example, think about the ratchet,
the screw or the water wheel, there are not very impressive by
today’s standards.
But at the same time, the Egyptian, Mayan,
Incan, and Aztec pyramids are easily argued to be marvels of
engineering. The Romans built paved roads to easily access
distant parts of their empire and aqueducts to distribute
water. These concepts, though much improved by modern
engineers, are still used in our contemporary societies. But it
was the invention of the steam engine that eventually led to
the modern meaning of the word engineer. It now applies to jobs
that use a systematic approach to solving practical problems,
and science and maths are employed to achieve the
ingenious.
The military connotation of the word was
never lost, but the field of civil engineering emerged as
things like building and bridges started becoming more complex.
As time went by and mankind’s rate of technological advance
increased, more fields were added to the discipline.
With such a long, rich history, and with
such a tremendous impact on human existence, there’s little
doubt that engineering jobs will continue be an integral part
of our society. But there has been a problem in the UK in
recent years: enrolment in university engineering courses
dropped prior to 2007, but has been increasing somewhat since
then. And there is a skill shortage in the profession.
According to a report on the Royal Academy
of Engineering’s website, the problem is mostly with lower
level courses that train engineering technicians. The academy’s
report also points out the engineering departments at some
universities are under threat of closure or merger.
Higher educational institutions continue to
face tight budget restraints, and many of them seek to reduce
costs by pulling resources away from degrees with higher
overheads, such as engineering. The report explained the UK is
doing fine with its supply of degree, Masters Degree and PhD
level engineers. But about 71 percent of the current skills
shortage is accounted for by vacancies in the engineering
technician fields.
The introduction to the RAEng’s document,
which is in collaboration with seven other engineering
organizations, states the 21st century re-industrialisation and
the hi-technology economy of the future “will need government
to provide incentives and support of a kind not seen in modern
policymaking to unlock investment from business and
industry.”
It calls for new models of cooperation
between industry, government and educators to transform the
politics of production. It identified five key priorities for
government policy as well as emphasized the need to recruit
more women into engineering jobs.
Currently, only 12 percent of engineering
graduates 2 percent of technician are women. But as the UK’s
economy recovers from the global recession and heads into the
second decade of the 21st century, the demand for technical and
engineering jobs is forecast to increase considerably.
The full report can be found on the Royal Academy of
Engineering website can be found at:
http://www.raeng.org.uk/societygov/public_affairs/pdf/Manifesto.pdf