Drives & Controls April 2022

ENGINEERING STUDENTS’ SECRET SANTA We are used to moaning about the shortage of skilled young people entering the electrical engineering profession. But for 14 years, a little- known organisation has been doing its bit to boost the number of graduates entering the profession. Called the Electrical Energy Engineering Academy – or, more conveniently, the E3 Academy – it is a non-profit organisation that has helped almost 150 young people to embark on careers in electrical engineering since its launch in 2008. The Academy works with engineering employers who sponsor students through their engineering degree courses to the tune of around £5,000 a year. During their summer vacations, the students are offered eight weeks of real-world training with the sponsoring company and are paid a minimum of £1,250 a month for this time. They also attend a three-day summer school where they get to meet other sponsored students. In return for their funding, the students have to agree to work for their sponsor for at least two years after graduating – but most stay for longer. Over its 14 years, the Academy has worked with ten sponsoring companies. At the moment, there are five – Siemens Digital Industries, Nidec Control Techniques, Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains, the electric motor manufacturer Yasa (now owned by Mercedes Benz), and Turntide Technologies (the US motor developer that has bought three UK businesses in the past year). The E3 Academy’s chairman, Bill Drury, who was previously technical director of Control Techniques, admits that the organisation has been “a bit of a secret”. But this could be about to change because the Academy has recently attracted funding from the UK Research & Innovation’s Industry Challenge Fund“Driving the Electric Revolution”initiative. This will allow the Academy to double its number of sponsoring companies and its future pipeline of young engineers. So far, the Academy has worked with three Universities – Newcastle, Nottingham and Bristol – and more could be brought into the scheme. Of the students who have passed through the scheme, 93% have obtained First or Upper Second degrees, and 40% have been women (compared to the 16% of engineering students who are female). Drury points out that for employers, the Academy takes the risk out of recruitment and secures the best candidates long before they graduate. It also gives the students valuable experience early in their careers.“They graduate as company insiders who are ready to hit the ground running from day one, and typically develop as high achievers who make significant impact in their companies,”says Drury. In a world where 47% of 11-19-year-olds don’t know what engineers do, 62% of 16-17-year-olds regard engineering as being“difficult”and 24% of engineering graduates leave engineering after they finish their courses, the E3 Academy is playing a valuable – if, so far, small-scale – role. Hopefully, with its new injection of funding, it will become less of a secret. You can find out more at www.E3Academy.org Tony Sacks, Editor n COMMENT How much real production exists in the virtual world? The Leading Exhibition for Smart Automation and Robotics June 21–24, 2022 | Munich automatica-munich.com Information: Pattern Limited Tel. +44 20 3375 8230 , info@pattern.co.uk FIND ALL ANSWERS HERE. AUTOMATICA 2022