An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

ANNEX I 227To encourage more young people especially women into the engineering profession.To bring the views of a younger engineer to the deliberations and work of the Council.The WISE campaign was initiated in 1984. I was able to play a part in the launch and thesubsequent campaign. An Engineering Council working party, of which I was a member,prepared an influential booklet on Career Breaks. A film was also made.The relationship between the Engineering Council and the Institution of Civil Engineers wasparticularly poor in the early years but has now markedly improved.I believe some early influential statements were made on the role of engineers and theirstanding in society. Qualification Standards were also improved.Joanna KennedyCouncil MemberI was perhaps an idealist, who had been deeply involved in engineering education andtraining, and closely involved in industrial research.(a) I wanted to see a much closer relationship between industry and education, as iscommonly the case in Germany.(b) I wanted to see a condensation of the far too many engineering Institutions, and a verymuch closer relationship between the few remaining Institutions. Ideally I wanted asingle engineering Institution, with very strong divisions such as in the VDI inGermany and the IEI in Ireland.(c) The Finniston Report placed on us the duty to promote the development of ourmanufacturing base, which has been shrinking since the end of the Second WorldWar, and I saw this as vitally important.(d) I wanted a four year degree course, which if I had had my way would have beenknown as the DiplIng, which would have clearly distinguished it from the publicunderstanding of the term engineer.Except for this last item my aims were not realised in practice and no progress was madetowards achieving them. Despite the Engineering Council introducing Industrial Membershipto obtain additional financial support, there was no development of a closer relationshipbetween industry and academia. There has been little reduction of the far too manyengineering Institutions, and now that they have the upper hand there is no likelihood ofprogress on this front. During the life of the Engineering Council the steady decline of ourmanufacturing base has accelerated, until it now represents 13% (?) of our national GNP.What is worse the Engineering Council appears to accept this decline as inevitable; I don’t.Professor Sir Bernard Cr osslandTo widen the concept and deepen the perception of the engineering base. Supporting theinclusion of engineers and technicians from all walks of academic and practical life, plusdriving greater improvements in links between industry and professional engineeringInstitutions. To discover and achieve a better understanding of the engineering profession andits membership in order to promote it to the community, industry and politicians whereverpossible. To learn and improve personal skills.Upon reflection my aims were too far ahead to witness more than a limited success whilst anElected Member of Council. To gain an understanding amongst my fellow EngC Members inthe early days, took a lot of patience and a good deal of ingenuity to bring about small but© Engineering Council UK 2004