The neighbourhood engineer

It is pointed out that in the United Kingdom, young people´s awareness of the engineering profession leaves a lot to be desired and has worrying implications for the future of British industry. To remedy the situation and to raise the levels of awareness, the Engineering Council of the UK has initiated a number of pilot schemes. The author describes, from personal experience, one of the pilot schemes currently operating in South Wales, the experiences gained, and the likely way forward for the future. Specifically, a description is given of the South Wales Neighbourhood Engineer scheme. In this scheme, engineers are allocated to a secondary school geographically local to them. The objective is to provide the school with an ongoing relationship with these engineers, who can be given practical advice and direct assistance to the school in many of the activities concerned with engineering. The engineers serve for a minimum period of two years, which is perceived as enough time to develop relationships between the school, engineers, engineering institutions, industry, and the careers service.<>