Over 460 students have previously participated in the Engineering Engagement Programme, which aims to increase diversity and inclusion across engineering, while supporting the need for more engineering students to transition from education into engineering employment.
Spearheaded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the programme focuses on encouraging the transition of more women graduates, as well as ethnic minority and socio-economically disadvantaged engineering graduates, into engineering employment.
Twelve engineering employers have previously been involved in the programme, which offered an opportunity for them to engage directly with students from underrepresented backgrounds. This helps open up the world of engineering to students who have not previously had the opportunity to delve into the scope of roles available to them.
Some of the benefits identified by the 12 companies involved in the programme previously include:
- Raising brand visibility amongst a wider, more diverse, range of engineering students and universities.
- Improving brand recognition as a forward-thinking pioneer of diversity and inclusion within and beyond the profession.
- Accessing a pre-filtered talent pool of female, minority ethnic and socio-economically disadvantaged engineering students and graduates.
- Making engineering a career destination of choice amongst a higher proportion of engineering undergraduates and graduates.
- Participating in an Academy-led collaboration to address shared strategic concerns regarding the engineering talent pipeline leakage and workforce diversity and inclusion for the benefit of all.
- Sharing experiences and lessons learned to improve diversity and inclusion when recruiting engineering graduates.
- Leading by example and championing the changes needed to improve underrepresentation of women, minority ethnic groups and those from a socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds in engineering employment.
The Royal Academy of Engineering is now seeking further employer engagement to support reaching more students and driving transition rates. If you think this might be of interest to your organisation, please contact [email protected] by Friday 13 April for more information.