Graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are key to providing the higher level skills that are required for economic recovery and long-term prosperity in the UK.

Engineers play a crucial role in emerging and growth sectors and, critically, engineering expertise is largely made up of ‘know-how’. Specifically, companies require more engineering graduates with practical experience of industry.

Stronger partnerships between industry and higher education (HE) can ensure that an increasingly diverse student body develops the engineering skills necessary to meet the future recruitment needs of a globally competitive industry.

The Engineering graduates for industry report

‘Engineering graduates for industry’ was commissioned by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills – now the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – following a recommendation made by Lord Sainsbury of Turville in his review of the Government’s Science and Innovation policies (‘The Race to the Top’ October 2007) to “… review current approaches to engineering education … [and] develop, with a number of leading engineering universities, an experience-led engineering degree ...”. Sustainable world-class experience-led HE engineering degree programmes which attract the best students are an essential element to meet the graduate recruitment needs of industry.

Download 'Engineering graduates for industry'

The principal objective of the study was to take the findings and recommendations from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Educating Engineers for the 21st Century report which examined the needs of industry in depth, and to build on this to identify effective practices within current and developing experience-led engineering degrees that meet these needs. An ‘experience-led engineering degree’ is understood to be an engineering degree which develops industry related skills and which may also include industry interaction.