Engineering is a fascinating profession involved in the design and manufacture of almost everything you can see: from microchips to motorways, from aeroplanes to artificial hips. But for over 20 years, the UK has been suffering from a shortage of engineers.
Engineering is a fascinating profession involved in the design and manufacture of almost everything you can see: from microchips to motorways, from aeroplanes to artificial hips. But for over 20 years, the UK has been suffering from a shortage of engineers.
Engineering is a fascinating profession involved in the design and manufacture of almost everything you can see: from microchips to motorways, from aeroplanes to artificial hips. But for over 20 years, the UK has been suffering from a shortage of engineers.
Part of the problem is undergraduate recruitment - getting students interested in a subject which they don't encounter at school is not easy. Now the Engineering Department have produced a suitably hi-tech solution - the e-card. This multi-media CD-ROM is the size of a credit card and contains all the information about studying engineering at Cambridge that an applicant might need.
Senior Research Associate, Dr Sue Jackson, said that as engineering is not a subject that is taught in schools, they wanted to make information about what it really entails more accessible to sixth formers.
"The e-card is a new, up-to-the-minute, exciting way of finding out about engineering and Cambridge. We have put similar information on our web site, but the e-card can be used more easily from home computers where accessing the web can be very slow," she said.
"We have also included a couple of movie clips that show some of the students at work. That is the best way of overcoming some of the prejudices about what students at Cambridge are like, and it makes the prospectus much more fun to look at."
The e-card will be given out at open days and conferences across the country.
Director of Undergraduate Education at the Engineering Department, Dr Geoff Parks, said that the e-card is proving to be a huge hit.
"If our e-card can help encourage talented youngsters to consider engineering as a career, then it will be good, not just for the University of Cambridge's Engineering Department, but for the UK as a whole," he said.
To receive a copy telephone 01223 332625 or email ugrad-admissions@eng.cam.ac.uk
About the department
The Engineering Department is a leading international centre for research and gained the highest possible ranking in the latest HEFCE assessment of research achievements. Substantial outside funding is earned in research contracts which enhances the Department's reputation.
There are more than 1,200 undergraduates and 300 postgraduate students in the Department. The Department covers all the main disciplines (except Chemical Engineering) and all undergraduate students take virtually common courses in their first two years, before specialising in their third and fourth years.
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