The seventh annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week, showcasing the wide range of UK careers available in engineering, and their importance to the national economy and society, begins today.
Pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects at school, and at college or university, opens routes into high value engineering careers. Salaries for engineers in aerospace and defence average nearly £48,000, more than 50 per cent higher than the UK average.
The Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space sectors offer some of the most highly skilled and rewarding engineering careers, with 31,000 engineering and design jobs in UK aerospace, and 30,000 in defence.
ADS Chief Executive Paul Everitt said:
“Engineering offers a route for everyone into highly skilled, high value careers in our industries and others in every part of the UK.
“Pursuing science and engineering at school, college and university can lead to rewarding roles, vital to our future. Engineers are working to make commercial aircraft greener, designing and building ships and submarines for the Royal Navy, developing the UK’s successful cyber security industry, building and launching satellites.
“Across our sectors there are companies seeking to recruit and invest in talented apprentices, graduates and engineers to help them realise a safe, secure and carbon efficient future. Why not join them.”
Apprenticeships are among the best routes into engineering careers, and there are 12,000 apprentices training and working in the UK’s Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space sectors. Initiatives including the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charter, which now has more than 120 private and public sector signatories, and the Women in Defence Charter, are also working to boost the diversity of access to careers in these industries.