Huge increase in the number of girls entering the Talent 2030 National Engineering Competition for Girls.
Talent 2030 had already worked with a thousand of the brightest young female school pupils on solving the world’s problems through engineering. And there was a record number of entries for 2016, with over 700 girls, up 63% from last year.
Dr Sarah Peers, Vice President of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) and Talent 2030 judge said: “The 63% increase in entries proves girls’ appetite and aptitude for engineering, but we must now translate this into exciting routes into engineering jobs, education and training and recruitment practices with no gender barrier.”
David Docherty, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) said: “Less than 8% of UK engineers are women. Industry, government and educationalists must work together to improve that number, to strengthen the UK’s potential to lead the world in manufacturing and engineering”.
Talent 2030 is an ambitious campaign to bring female talent into engineering and manufacturing industries. It tracks the number of girls completing GCSE and A-level physics against realistic targets if the UK is to reach European averages. Sponsored by Rolls-Royce, PepsiCo and Centrica, the competition asks girls to explore engineering solutions to twenty-first century problems. With prizes of £1000 and a mentor for winners, plus cash awards for the runners-up, all shortlisted entrants are invited to the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham in March 2017, to exhibit their ideas and receive their certificates and prizes. All winners and runners-up have the exclusive opportunity to visit our sponsor facilities.
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About The National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)
Inspiring universities and business to work together for growth and prosperity. As a membership not-for-profit organisation, the National Centre brings together leaders from across higher education and business to tackle issues of shared interest.
About Talent2030
The Talent2030 programme came from a recommendation of the National Centre Task Force into the manufacturing and engineering sectors, showing the sector faced a talent shortage which would worsen to the year 2030. The targets set to combat this were endorsed by former Prime Minister, David Cameron. Since 2012, Talent 2030 has tracked the numbers of girls studying GCSE and A-level physics against realistic targets if the UK is to reach European averages of female engineers. The 2016 Dashboard showed negligible growth in girls on pathway courses to engineering degrees and also showed a real decline in the number of UK female engineers.
The Talent 2030 campaign is supported by: EDT, Engineering Council, Engineering UK, Stemnet, STEM Ambassadors, The Association for Science Education, Wise, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Crest Awards, Women’s Engineering Society, the Big Bang Fair, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, STEM Clubs, National STEM Centre, National Union of Students and Times Education Supplement.
For further information, please contact:
Shivaun Meehan, Head of Communications T: +44 (0)20 7383 8193 E: Shivaun.meehan@ncub.co.uk
James Lenney, Digital Communications Officer T: +44 (0)20 7383 8185 E: James.lenney@ncub.co.uk
National Centre for Universities and Business
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