Licensing seen as answer to big engineer shortage

Engineers want a licensing scheme to recognise what they consider to be an undervalued profession where numbers are in serious decline.

It is hoped the scheme, proposed by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), will help raise the profile of the profession in the UK and boost the number of recruits, following a loss of 10,000 registered engineers from the profession last year.

The IMechE claimed that the long-term survival of UK manufacturing was dependent on a healthy engineering sector.

"The UK focus of the last decade on cost reductions is no longer enough to remain globally competitive -- China's labour costs are 5% of ours," it said. "Sustained UK leadership in manufacturing lies in superlative innovative engineering and technology."

While some IMechE officials believed licensing was only appropriate where engineers' responsibilities carried some safety critical content, 95% of the Institute's 75,000 members worldwide have welcomed the proposal.

Meanwhile, the IMechE said that the government, industry and academics must work together to reverse the brain drain in engineering. "There is a worsening perception that engineering -- based on advanced science and mathematics -- is too hard," it said.

But many engineers felt undervalued and underpaid, it said, with the result that fewer were taking up engineering as a career, even after gaining a degree in it.