30 years of EES, Royal visits and guest bloggers

It’s hard to believe that January is almost over. The New Year has begun with a great start for both EDT and Industrial Cadets. EDT schemes are well underway with workshops for the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) in progress now. This year’s project teams are actually the 30^th groups to work on this well established project-based scheme, as EES is actually the longest standing programme within the EDT portfolio.

You may have seen the ‘thank you’ messages being sent via our Twitter feed, as we are taking this opportunity to acknowledge and to thank all those companies that have helped us deliver over 30,000 experiences, over the 30 years. Without support from UK employers we would not be able to run the volume of programmes we do, nor would we offer the high quality of experience to the young people that we are able to.

When young people work on an EES project, it isn’t simply another school project to add to their academic portfolio, instead they work on a real industry problem alongside an industry professional - almost as if they are a project team within the company itself! This type of experience is invaluable, as it gives a young person a glimpse of how they may work with a peer group once placed in industry, helping them to gain real STEM skills and experience, applying their academic knowledge in a practical way with an experienced mentor to help guide them through the process.

The latest addition to the EDT portfolio – the Industrial Cadets’ award/accreditation, continues to receive Royal support, with HRH The Prince of Wales visiting two Industrial Cadets events in one week! We were delighted to see The Prince at an event held in Dumfries House on 19^th January and then the very next day at Nissan in Sunderland. This is an encouraging sign as the initiative continues its expansion throughout the England and into Scotland in 2015. Having initially inspired Industrial Cadets, I am encouraged that His Royal Highness is still actively interested in how the accreditation initiative is being rolled out by industry.

As I round-up I would like to share the exciting news about our ‘guest bloggers’ who will be joining me over 2015, to cover a range of topical discussions surrounding STEM and the skills gap. These professionals will speak from their own experience both as a young person in education and now as they make an impact as a professional. We hope that by introducing other perspectives, you as our audience, will gain an insight into different areas of STEM from both an academics view point and those working in industry.

My next blog will be in April, so I look forward to sharing an update on EDT and Industrial Cadets and all the activities we have going on, and I’m sure there will also be some thoughts around the election and what we are hoping for from the next government.