Engineering still a career of choice

A new paper released today by EngineeringUK finds engineering and technology graduates to be highly employable, with 94.3% in work three years after graduation, second only to medicine and dentistry. The paper finds that the median salary for engineering and technology graduates three years on is £28,000, with only medicine, dentistry and veterinary science edging ahead. Contrary to popular belief, it also reveals that 74% of engineering and technology graduates who enter employment, go into in Engineering and Technology related occupations.

The paper, entitled, Where Do Engineering Graduates Go? also reveals one third of engineering and technology applications in 2007/08 were from non UK domiciled students, up five percentage points since 2001/02 when 28% of applicants were from non UK domiciles. This is approximately double the proportion of overseas applicants across all subjects, with the average being 15%. This long term rising trend of increasing engineering applications from outside the UK is particularly prominent at higher degree level, where only 27.2% are UK domiciled compared to 44.9 % across all subjects.

Paul Jackson, chief executive of EngineeringUK, said: "Whilst numbers of engineering graduates continue to increase due to strong employability and salary levels, there remains a rising trend in overseas engineering applications compared to home students. The implications for UK the business and education systems are as yet undetermined but we must work together to investigate this trend and its potential effect on the UK's technological competitiveness. We need to make sure we create a sustainable UK engineering workforce, as well as a strong international one."

To view the full paper visit: http://www.engineeringuk.com/_db/_documents/Where_do_Engineering_Graduates_Go.pdf