Engineering association urges scrapping of fees for engineering students

Waiving tuition fees for UK engineering students will increase the number of professional engineers and provide much-needed resources for the sector, according to the Association for Consultancy & Engineering. Nelson Ogunshakin, the association’s chief executive, says, ‘The industry is working to close the gap in salaries between engineering and other comparable professions to make engineering careers more attractive. Until this is achieved we need, as a country, to incentivise engineering as a career. Waiving tuition fees for engineering courses will increase the demand for those courses and ultimately increase the number of professional engineers the nation so badly needs.’ A similar system has already been implemented in the United States, and the UK Government has for some time offered such an incentive for those completing teacher training. The issue has also recently been raised in Parliament during hearings of the current University & Skills Committee. Nelson Ogunshakin adds, ‘We are entering a critical period for our education system; maybe our last chance to get these policies right before highly skilled jobs start to disappear overseas. ‘This is a radical but proportionate proposal, and I urge all engineering organisations and Government to work to make this proposal a reality.’