EngineeringUK estimates that the UK will require 87,000 new engineers a year over the next ten years. However, with skills shortages threatening to derail the UK's engineering industry, it is clear that immediate action needs to be taken if this quota is to be met. In this article, Vincent English, managing director of Vernier Europe, offers his…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue and some issues surrounding choosing management as a career. A jointly developed questionnaire is also presented. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is descriptive in nature. Findings: It is crucial for researchers and practitioners to expand their perspectives…

This paper proposes a practical framework for key skills that can be used or adapted for use in any discipline at university level. The paper begins by reviewing the arguments for and against integrating key skills into higher education. Although the skills agenda has been widely criticised on several fronts, this paper argues that key skills need…

Explains how individuals trained to be physicists take a path to become engineers and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of this transformation, particularly with regard to the term "renaissance engineer." Examines the system for registration of physicists as engineers in the United Kingdom. (Author/YDS)

Discussed is the decline of popularity of engineering studies in the United Kingdom, with consequent difficulties in the recruitment of a sufficient number of people into the profession. Possible solutions to the problem are presented, as well as, implications for future funding. (KR)

This monograph presents 26 papers addressed to workshop sessions representing thought and innovation in employment counseling and vocational guidance. Two papers are written in German, one in French, and 23 in English. Abstracts preceding each paper appear in the two languages other than that used for the paper itself. Topics covered include…

This document contains three papers on key skills and competencies and human resource development (HRD). "Career Related Competencies" (Marinka A.C.T. Kuijpers) reports findings from surveys completed by Dutch employees who identified these issues: self-reflection is more important than career control; age and gender influence attitude…