Engineering dominates top ten graduate starting salaries
25 September 2014
Students graduating from engineering courses are likely to be amongst the highest graduate earners, according to The Times Good University Guide 2015.
The Guide, which is due for publication in October 2014, lists 'salaries by course' and six of the top ten highest graduate starting salaries are engineering disciplines.
The top engineering discipline, and second on the overall salary list, is chemical engineering at £29,582, followed by general engineering at £26,362, mechanical engineering at £26,076, aeronautical and manufacturing engineering at £25,343, electrical and electronic engineering at £24,639 and civil engineering at £24,524. Top of the list is dentistry with an average starting salary of £30,395.
Law came only 47 out of the 66 courses with a starting salary of £19,598. Bottom of the list was Creative Writing at £16,903. The average overall starting salary is £21,982.
“It’s very encouraging to see that graduates beginning their engineering careers are starting on such good salaries," says Nigel Fine, chief executive of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). “There has never been a better time to be an engineer; demand that far outstrips supply, competitive graduate salaries and fantastic career prospects are typical characteristics of the engineering profession today.”
The IET’s 2014 annual Engineering and Technology: Skills & Demand in Industry report highlighted that 51 percent of employers said they were recruiting engineering staff this year and that 59 percent of companies indicated concerns that a shortage of engineers would be a threat to their businesses.
UK visual effects skills academy
Culture minister, Ed Vaizey has announced the 'Next Generation Skills Academy' a collaboration of leading UK visual effects, animation and games employers, including Double Negative, Framestore, Moving Picture Company, Pinewood Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Ubisoft Reflections.
The consortium has secured nearly £6.5m of investment via the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), to develop the next generation of talented animators, games designers and visual effects artists.
Led by Centroid, one of the industry’s leading motion capture companies, and Amersham and Wycombe College, a leading provider of vocational courses and training, the Next Gen Skills Academy will develop and offer new entry level qualifications, higher level apprenticeships, short courses and online learning opportunities, all designed to meet employers’ skills needs.
The initiative is also supported by a range of stakeholders including BFI, Creative England, Creative Skillset, TIGA and Ukie.
The UK’s creative industries are amongst the strongest in the world, worth an annual £71.4bn to the UK economy and supporting more than 1.7m jobs. Visual effects and games in particular are a great British success story.
Skills a key priority for next government: EEF
Britain’s manufacturers have set out their priorities for the next government to drive better balanced growth, boost trade and investment, and deliver long term economic security.
The priorities, including five key policy areas from skills to staying in the EU, are set out by the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) in a manifesto, An Agenda for Government to 2020.
From schools to universities, the EEF wants to see highly motivated, skilled young people willing and capable of entering the world of manufacturing, engineering and wider industry. The manufacturers' organisation seeks what it terms, ‘career aspiration’, a light touch approach for primary schools to get young people to think about their futures and ensure they have access to independent, face-to-face careers advice before making subject choices.
The manifesto calls for an apprenticeship training system that is robust, long-lasting and resistant to short-term change, and says the number of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) specialists in secondary schools must be increased. Furthermore, the EEF wants the future government to make the UK’s immigration system less costly and less complicated for businesses, particularly SMEs.
The other four areas highlighted in the EEF manifesto are: innovation, infrastructure, energy and resource security, and the UK's remaining in the EU.
Les Hunt
Editor
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