On Apr 20, 7:39*pm, Paul Terry wrote:

In message ,
writes

Are there any competant engineers left in this country?

Very few, and many of them are due to retire. There is an enormous
shortage of engineers in the UK, mostly due to the under-funding of
Further Education and government policies to encourage youngsters to
take degrees in subjects such as tourism or media studies.

What the country needs is technicians (not graduates) in engineering,
but it is becoming increasingly difficult even to recruit them from
abroad, as countries such as Germany are having similar problems.

I know there is this and that out there, but from the outside there
often appears to be scant pathways into engineering - I'm thinking
about the likes of accessible apprenticeships for youngsters who'd
love to get stuck in to such a career but just don't have any way in.