Renishaw welcomes Engineering Engagement Programme to boost sector diversity
The engineering technologies company Renishaw is collaborating with the Royal Academy of Engineering and a number of other leading engineering companies to create an Engineering Engagement Programme (EEP) which is aimed at attracting undergraduates from diverse backgrounds into the profession.
The year-long collaboration sets out to improve the rate of students transitioning from engineering degrees to employment in engineering. At present, around 25% of UK-domiciled engineering undergraduates are from ethnic minority backgrounds, but only 6% go on to work in the profession. A similarly low rate exists for women, with around 17% on undergraduate engineering degrees and only 6% working in the profession.
There are two phases of the Engineering Engagement Programme. The first phase happened at the end of July 2015, when students attended the Engineering Uncovered Summer School. The students had a 3-day intensive education programme before two days of industry site visits, including 12 students visiting Renishaw's headquarters in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, UK.
Renishaw's Education Liaison Manager Julie Collins, a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering's Diversity Leadership Group, was heavily involved in the visit. She said, “As well as presentations and demonstrations of innovative products that we supply to the manufacturing and healthcare sectors, several of our graduates from diverse backgrounds then talked about their experience of working at Renishaw and answered questions from the students.”
One student said, “I was captivated by the passion shown by the Renishaw employees and all the engineering looked very interesting. I will certainly be looking to make an application.”
The second phase of the Engineering Engagement Programme is an Engineering Fast Track, which consists of a series of workshops running over Autumn/Winter 2015-2016.