A new Academy report shows that while engineering graduates are highly employable, there is a noticeable difference in how quickly different ethnic groups fare in the job market: 71% of white engineering graduates find full-time jobs after six months compared with 51% of black and minority ethnic (BME) students.
The science and engineering communities have a long way to go in building a more diverse culture:
- 8% of people in professional engineering roles are female, according to Sir John Perkins’ 2013 Review of Engineering Skills, and only 4.6% of those registered with their professional institutions are female
- 20% of physics ‘A’ levels are awarded to girls
- 15% of engineering and technology first degrees are awarded to females
- 25.5% of engineering and technology first degrees are awarded to people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds, compared with around 6% in professional engineering roles
Belinda Phipps, CEO of the Science Council, said: “While there is still much to be done across society to truly create a world where gender, skin colour, body and social class do not limit life chances, it is great to see such a big move forward by these professional bodies and institutions for the benefit of scientists and engineers everywhere.”
The new progression framework builds on the Engineering Diversity Concordat; and the Science Council Declaration on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion and centres on identifying diversity and inclusion practice in relation to eight functions common to professional bodies. It gives professional bodies the opportunity to assess each of these functions against four levels of progress. The aim is to support discussion, initiation, planning and assessment of diversity and inclusion work.
“The Academy is very pleased to have the opportunity to build on this through collaboration with the Science Council so that we can jointly address diversity and inclusion issues across the whole STEM landscape,” said Philip Greenish CBE, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering. “Professional bodies form the backbone of the engineering profession and we intend that this framework will provide them a clear and transparent tool to make a step-change in improving diversity and inclusion.”
