EDITOR’S CHOICE
DIVERSITY IN EARLY CAREER
THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
ACADEMY STEPS UP PROGRAMME TO ADDRESS
DIVERSITY IN EARLY CAREER ENGINEERING
The Royal Academy of Engineering is
launching a new Graduate Engineering
Engagement Programme today to
enable more ethnic minority, female
and socioeconomically disadvantaged
engineering students to move successfully
into engineering jobs - with a focus on
those from the newer post-92 universities.
The State of Engineering 2018 report
from EngineeringUK found that 12% of
the UK working age population are from
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Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME)
backgrounds, but only 8% of professional
engineers are, despite the fact that 27% of
engineering graduates in 2016 come from
ethnic minority backgrounds. According
to Academy research on employment
outcomes of engineering graduates, ethnic
minority graduates are more than twice as
likely to be unemployed six months post-
graduation than their white counterparts of
similar age and gender with similar study
and degree classification.
The Graduate Engineering Engagement
Programme will work to address these and
other disparities by connecti ng engineering
graduates, undergraduates and businesses,
and by working to minimise barriers that
have a negative impact on the transition of
underrepresented groups into engineering
employment.
The Academy-led programme is based on
a three-year pilot that engaged more than
450 engineering students.