Forty transition year students from across the South East attended WIT’s Engineer Your Future to explore their passion for the world engineering
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is delighted to have welcomed 40 Transition Year students to the Engineering Your Future (EYF) programme, a three-day, hands-on programme designed to give students a meaningful, practical insight into engineering at third level and as a career.
Exploring a diverse world of engineering
The programme is designed to introduce Transition Year students to the exciting and diverse world of engineering, and to help them gain an in-depth understanding of the diversity of engineering at third level and in industry. During the programme, students participated and enjoyed workshops in the fields of sustainable energy and building services; electrical and electronic. mechanical and manufacturing and civil engineering. These included building archs, programming Arduino boards, Solidworks design and 3d printing of mobile phone covers and fidget spinners, materials testing and electric circuit design. The students also visited local factories Schivo and Nypro.
Graduate shortage
The annual Transition Year programme is supported by Engineers Ireland's STEPS programme - a strategic partner of Science Foundation Ireland’s (SFI) Smart Futures initiative – and hosted by a number of third-level institutes throughout Ireland. Around 330 students attended EYF across Ireland in May.
Mary Doyle-Kent, Chartered Engineer and Programme Leader BEng in Manufacturing Engineering
Department of Engineering Technology, SETU is the secretary of the South East division of Engineers Ireland and a Co-Coordinator of the Engineers Ireland EYF Programme at SETU.
She highlights the importance of introducing second-level students to the world of engineering at an early stage. “There is significant shortage of engineering graduates in the south east region of Ireland. In our region there are exciting opportunities in local companies,” she explains.
Flexible career path
In particular, there are opportunities for female engineers whose skills sets are valued by engineering companies especially in the field of mechanical and manufacturing engineering.
“Historically female engineers count for only 3-10% of the engineering population. There seems to be a disconnect and second level students do not consider engineering as a potential career option. This is unfortunate as engineering can be an exciting, flexible and rewarding career that can be moulded into whatever field the person has an interest in. It can act as an international passport that can bring great rewards.”
“In SETU we reach out to our female engineering students by running regular informal coffee mornings. Here the female students can meet and create a network, share stories and enjoy a nice coffee and cake!” she explains.
Exciting and essential roles
Commenting on the Transition Year Programme, Caroline Spillane, Engineers Ireland Director General, said: “Engineers are involved in so many exciting and essential roles – they build cities, design medical devices, create entertainment products, maintain communications networks, and much, much more. Without the input of engineers, many great ideas would remain fixed in the imagination and never become a reality.”
Dr Ruth Freeman, Director of Strategy and Communications at Science Foundation Ireland, said: “Transition Year can be a critical point in the education pathway to third-level education. It is important that we encourage and inspire these students to increase their knowledge and understanding of science and engineering, so that they feel empowered to consider further study in these disciplines. EYF is a practical and insightful programme for students.”
Helping students choose
Engineering Your Future students are tracked over a number of years to monitor their educational and career journeys. 40% of students who took part in Engineering Your Future in 2014 are now studying engineering in their First Year in college, and 64% are studying STEM (science technology engineering or maths). 80% of students who took part said the EYF programme helped them decide on their CAO choices. The school of Engineering in SETU looks forward to welcoming more TY students to participate in this programme in 2018 so keep an eye out for application forms on the STEPS website in January 2018.