Where have all the engineers gone?

The engineering industry is facing a shortage of suitably educated graduates for the future. In order to find reasons why and how this problem could be overcome, a series of related investigations has been carried out by academic staff and undergraduates. The investigations covered a wide age range from young schoolchildren to final year undergraduates. Extensive consultation with the aerospace industry has provided information on what is now required of the education process. Recent developments in the engineering industry have resulted in new skills being required where the conventional, and well‐known, core disciplines must be integrated in order to create the entire aerospace vehicle. This paper describes what the investigations found and how the results and recommendations can be implemented.