An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

1988-1990: THE BARLOW YEARS 65support through funding, the donation of prizes and the organising of regional finals. Anentrant on a previous occasion who had been supported by the ‘Who Wants to be aMillionaire’ campaign, had made such good progress with his own engineering business thathe was also awarded a prize from the Comino Foundation. The competition was wellsupported by national and local media.The Young Engineer for Britain national final for 1989 was again hosted by NationalWestminster Bank at its Old Banking Hall. Dial Industry Publications sponsored thiscompetition for the last time but Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and British Gas plc offeredsponsorship for future years. The coveted title of Young Engineer for Britain was won in1989 by Nigel Herbert for a pocket-sized viscometer. The event was again well covered bythe national media. Prizes were presented by the EngC Chairman. The DES instituted a prizeof £600 for the school entering the competition for the first time with the most imaginativeproject.The 1990 Young Engineer for Britain competition continued to be hosted by NationalWestminster Bank and sponsored, on this occasion, by this bank and Lloyd’s Register.Awards were presented by HRH the Duke of Kent. The winner was 13 year old BenScammell from Trent College for ‘Cookmate’, an electronic device indicating when abarbecue attains the correct cooking temperature.Other Schools ActivitiesUnder Sir William Barlow’s chairmanship liaison continued with schools and school teachersat several levels. In May 1988, for instance, a conference was held with the AssistantMasters’ and Mistresses’ Association, building on the work previously undertaken withKing’s College London and Trent Polytechnic to consider the introduction of technology intothe curriculum. Staff at King’s and Trent had been involved in preparing the ‘TechnologyEducation Project’ report. At the end of the year, also looking at curriculum issues, the EngCand the Royal Society promoted a national conference to explore progress on Advanced andAdvanced Supplementary (A and AS) levels. A Government Committee of Inquiry on thistopic, chaired by Council Member Dr Gordon Higginson, Vice-Chancellor of SouthamptonUniversity, had proposed broadening the base of post-16 education in schools to five subjectsbut the Government, unlike educationalists, employers and the EngC, had not accepted themain thrust of the Committee’s report. The Government was concerned over the considerablefunding implications that might have resulted from a consequential general lengthening ofuniversity degree courses from three to four years so that students could achieve thetraditional depth in specialist subjects. At the conference held in December 1988 Denis Filerand the Secretary of State for Education and Science made key-note speeches.During 1988 ‘A Co-ordinated Programme to Capture Young People’s Imagination’, dealingwith many aspects of the EngC’s work with schools and colleges in the 5-19 age group, waspublished as a policy review document. This addressed curriculum development, careers’advice and community involvement and proved useful in the work with Industrial Affiliatesand in guiding Nominated Bodies in their activities in schools. This topic had previously beendebated in April 1988 at the first Engineering Profession Forum, during Lord Tombs’s termof office, but at the end of 1988 the long-term funding for such work remained a problem.‘The Promotion of Modern Engineering’ scheme formed part of the 5-19 programme tocreate an awareness of modern engineering among all young people. This scheme attemptedto extend the partnership with schools and colleges in collaboration with Government, local© Engineering Council UK 2004