The UKESF is pleased to share its Impact Report 2023-24.
Highlights from the year include:
Are you interested to find out more about our mission to encourage more young people to study Electronics and to pursue careers in the sector? Do you think you could help? Get in touch to find out how you could be involved.
By Stewart Edmondson
Each year, towards the end of the Summer, we host 60 UKESF Scholars in York for our Workshop. This is a residential professional development course for undergraduates entering the final year of their degree. This year we had Scholars from 17 universities (and having completed work experience at 38 different companies!) come together to hear expert speakers, participate in fun team building activities and begin to establish their professional network, all whilst preparing for graduate recruitment.
It is always a fantastic experience and this year was no exception. Our aim is that the Scholars’ feel inspired by the event and, in turn, I always find it incredibly inspiring to spend time with these fantastic young people. We ensure that the atmosphere is welcoming and collaborative, and those that participated helped us to create a safe space for discussion and learning. It’s a busy, thought provoking and exciting week. The packed agenda covers human behaviour, ethics, negotiation, managing diverse teams, sustainability, cyber security, as well as advice on networking, CV’s and entrepreneurship.
Our recent report into graduate work readiness discussed the non-technical skills that are sought after by Electronics employers, and our workshop aims to provide effective support for Scholars to build their skills and confidence beyond their Electronics subject knowledge.
We’re always thrilled to hear the feedback from the workshop, and this year, 98% of our Scholars rated it good or excellent. This year they told us:
“I thought it was an invaluable experience and I appreciate the effort gone into it!”
“It was particularly great to meet a range of female electrical engineering students as there aren’t that many around at uni!”
“Brilliant to see many topics from passionate and captivating speakers”
In 2022, our Scholarship received a special commendation from the Princess Royal Training Awards for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Our efforts to break down barriers and challenge stereotypes is evidenced by this years’ workshop cohort which comprised 30% female participants.
Applications are now open for the 2024/24 Scholarship Scheme. If you’re an undergraduate student, find out if you’re eligible to apply and begin your application here.
If you’re an employer and would like to find out how your company could benefit from connecting with a UKESF Scholar, click here for more information or get in touch by email at [email protected].
By Stewart Edmondson
It is a simple enough and reasonably sounding question to ask “are the graduates entering our industry fit for purpose?”
Prompted by industry wide reports that contributed to the discourse on work readiness over the last few years, the UKESF wanted to understand how prepared Electronics graduates are to enter the workforce.
Through an in-depth focus group with employers, and a survey with both employers and graduates, we explored whether graduates have the expected technical and non-technical skills sought by employers.
Our research found that although some of the results are mixed, the picture for Electronics graduates is reassuring given the concerns raised in other reports.
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support for this study from my colleague Hilary Price at Aston University.
Our award-winning Scholarship Scheme gives undergraduates the opportunity to gain valuable work experience though their degree, supporting them to develop work ready skills; whilst employers benefit from the chance to engage with capable, motivated undergraduates and establish an effective pipeline for graduate recruitment.
If you’re interested in finding out more, or getting involved, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at [email protected].
By Stew Edmondson, CEO, UKESF
It’s been almost a year since the Government launched their National Semiconductor Strategy and we have gladly welcomed the step change in activity and interest around Electronics and semiconductors. However, the skills challenge remains the same:
The only way for UK semiconductor industry to sustainably grow and thrive in the long term is to increase the number of students studying electronics at degree level.
The semiconductor industry is forecast to be worth $1T globally, but has for a long time largely been unknown to many outside of the profession. It is crucial for advances in healthcare, security, AI, green energy, communication, and many other sectors on which we rely. At the UKESF, it is our mission to ensure that more school children, their parents and their teachers are aware of Electronics, have the opportunity to learn about it in an engaging way.
To achieve this, we are working tirelessly to advocate for skills on behalf of the Electronics industry. We want to ensure that policymakers and other key stakeholders recognise the importance of semiconductors, both for today, and for the future.
We were pleased to have been invited to contribute to the POSTnote, Supply of Semiconductor Chips, by Debbie Woods and Devyani Gajjar. The document has been produced by Parliament, for Parliament, to provide a reliable and impartial overview of the industry. Our contribution has highlighted that:
The Semiconductor Strategy set out the UK’s plan to “secure areas of world-leading strength in the semiconductor technologies of the future by focusing on our strengths in R&D, design and IP, and compound semiconductors”. Through initiatives like this POSTnote, we can raise awareness of the challenges we face with policymakers so that we can move forward with an aligned, coherent strategy that not only ensures have a good pipeline of Electronics engineers entering industry, but that they have the right skills for the industry to thrive.
Read the POSTnote in full here, and visit our Skills Advocacy page for more information about the work we’re doing.
The UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) has partnered up with the Royal Institution to deliver a series of Computer Science masterclasses to year 8 pupils.
With the support of UKESF Scholars, pupils had the opportunity to get hands on with an interactive electronics session and participate in a drone competition. The masterclasses were held at a college in Hampshire.
“We are delighted that the students had such a positive experience at the masterclasses. Not only was there a fantastic atmosphere on the day, but pupils reported that they were inspired to learn more about the variety of careers that computer science can lead to, and that they were more likely to consider a career in STEM following the event.” Isabel Culmer, UKESF Education Outreach Advisor
The Insight into Electronics session was supported by UKESF Scholars Alexander Mills and Tao Zeng from the University of Southampton. Pupils were introduced to microcontrollers and sensors using an Arduino kit, and had the opportunity to ask their questions to the Scholars about their journey so far and experiences.
The drone competition was run by UKESF Scholars Shawn Poile and Efstratios Stamatopoulos, also from the University of Southampton, in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors. The pupils programmed drones to fly on an obstacle course, and learned that programming for hardware can come with challenges and unexpected outcomes.
Feedback following the session found that:
If you would like to find out more about Insight into Electronics, click here. For more information about RI Masterclasses, click here.