An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

120A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCILThis, and other sad experiences of the ill-fated PEI’s, are a perfect illustration of the fact thatmany things are better done centrally in the engineering profession. An added misfortune,directly relating to the ending of the ECRO system and the demise of the PEIs, was thereduction of the number of volunteers acting as Neighbourhood Engineers whose nobleefforts on behalf of the engineering profession had been enhanced through the network ofECROs. May the day come when the value of a centrally-supported system is wholeheartedlyaccepted by the various bodies involved.Interfacing with SchoolsWISEThe Women Into Science and Engineering (WISE) programme continued to grow during thisperiod with WISE in Scotland being launched in September 1996 thanks to support from theScottish Office. ‘Wise Outlook’, to promote engineering at technician level for 13-14 yearold girls, was piloted in three UK areas in 1996 and, to ensure effective partnership on WISEissues between the Institutions and the EngC, a WISE sub-committee with Institutionrepresentatives was created during the year.Following an independent evaluation of the WISE vehicle programme in 1996, confirmingthe effectiveness of the initiative, three further trailer classrooms were brought into service:WISE V, for 13-14 year-old girls, was inaugurated in October 1997 by Anne Campbell MP(Parliamentary Private Secretary at DTI) and, in October 1998, WISE VI was launched inScotland by Vanessa Collingridge (Channel 5 Presenter) and WISE VII by Pam Liversidge(Senator and a Past President of IMechE). Joan Ruddock, Minister for Women, visited aWISE vehicle in 1998 just before the Government abolished her post. The WISE vehicleprogramme was run by Nottingham Trent University on behalf of the EngC.WISE Conferences were held during 1997 at Dudley College of Technology and St Asaph,North Wales, and in 1998 in Bristol in collaboration with Rolls-Royce and Matra-BAeDynamics to encourage more girls and women to consider careers in science and engineering.WISE-related publications achieved high-level recognition and attention during this period,several being launched by Government ministers. ‘Cracking It’, an EngC handbook forwomen in science, engineering and technology, targeted at women students and engineers,was unveiled in 1997 by the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett, President of the Board of Trade. Thebook was sponsored by the DTI, EMTA, Wellcome Trust, EEF and the Association of theBritish Pharmaceutical Industry. In 1998 Mo Mowlam, Secretary of State for NorthernIreland, launched in Belfast the EngC brochure ‘A Career as a Woman Technician has neverLooked so Good’ containing available opportunities, while the ‘Directory of Initiatives 1999– Women into Science and Engineering’ was published in November 1998 in a new format.Neighbourhood EngineersBy 1996 the ‘Times Educational Supplement School of the Year Award’ that we mentionedin the previous chapter, for teaching excellence achieved through working with the EngC’sNeighbourhood Engineers, was in its 4 th year and brought in yet more entrants.The Neighbourhood Engineers local coordination was mostly contracted out in 1996 underpartnership arrangements either with Science and Technology Regional Organisations(SATROs) or Education Business Partnerships, which were already managing school and© Engineering Council UK 2004