Engineering education needs industry in the room

Recently appointed by the Royal Academy of Engineering as Visiting Professors, Dr Matt Peck and Dr Shengke Zhi argue that engineering companies must play a more active role in shaping the future of education for the benefit of students and for the resilience of the industry itself.

The UK engineering sector faces a preparation challenge. Nearly half of firms with digital skills gaps say those shortages actively harm productivity, while 35 per cent report restricted growth, according to Institute of Engineering and Technology research.

The gap between what students learn and what industry needs has grown pronounced enough that UK engineering firms stand alone among ten global markets surveyed by IET: only 35 per cent believe the education system adequately prepares young people for the sector. This should alarm anyone concerned about the UK's infrastructure renewal, clean energy transition, and digital transformation.

Engineering faculties across the UK work hard to equip students with strong technical foundations. However, industry often moves faster than curricula can adapt. Five years ago, AI systems integration was rarely covered, net zero techniques were rapidly evolving, and resilience planning wasn’t yet central to design thinking. Now, these need to be embedded throughout engineering education. Not just to bolster technical expertise, but to ensure the next generation of engineers is equipped for the realities of practice.

Initiatives like the Royal Academy of Engineering's Visiting Professors programme provide a framework and turn this need into practice - but only if industry commits.

This scheme embeds experienced professionals into university departments, creating a structured way for industry to support curriculum development, mentor students, and share insights from live projects. Established in 2022, it creates institutional commitment on both sides: universities designate an academic champion to work with each Visiting Professor while companies allocate an employee’s time to the university. It’s not about rewriting syllabuses overnight. It’s about helping universities enrich their teaching with contemporary examples, emerging technologies, and problem statements engineers face in practice.

For my part (Dr Matt Peck, AtkinsRéalis director of Innovation in Transportation) I’ll be working at Birmingham University to help students better understand the digital tools and multidisciplinary thinking now central to engineering. For example, undergraduates will learn how advanced digital sensors are being used to monitor the state of integral bridges, a trial which will update asset standards. As for me (AtkinsRéalis client director Dr Shengke Zhi) I will be in Yorkshire and Teesside to connect students to major carbon capture and net zero projects, helping them see how their hometowns are becoming hubs for energy transition and hydrogen innovation.

Universities can struggle to keep pace with emerging sectors because curricula can take time to evolve. The private sector has an important role to play in curriculum co-creation and giving students access to the latest tools. The need is particularly acute for projects that span multiple disciplines - sustainability challenges, for instance, require technical engineering alongside environmental science, regulatory knowledge, and community impact considerations. Yet only 53 per cent of recent graduates say their education involved solving problems by thinking about whole systems.

Filling the employability gap

These partnerships also offer a way to address the employability gap too, helping to accelerate the training and development of newly qualified engineers to the benefit of individual career paths and the projects to which they can contribute more productively. Industry agrees on the solution: 44 per cent of UK engineering companies identify more industry placements as the key way to improve university-level engineering education.

Embedding industry perspectives into education - whether through visiting professors, guest lectures, or co-developed modules - gives students clearer visibility of career paths and the skills they’ll need to succeed.

Industry recognises its own responsibility here: while only three in ten engineering employers believe higher education institutions are best placed to deliver technical training, 59 per cent see themselves as best positioned for this role. This makes active engagement essential, not optional. The UK's slide from 6th to 16th globally for university-business collaboration between 2018 and 2021 (recovering only to 12th by 2025, according to the Global Innovation Index) shows what happens when these partnerships weaken.

At AtkinsRéalis, we've seen how the engagement benefits both students and our own teams. Our engineers return from university sessions with fresh perspectives. Students arrive for placements already familiar with the tools and frameworks we use. And we build relationships before the graduate recruitment cycle even begins.

Early involvement

Importantly, this effort must extend across the education spectrum. Engineering companies have a role to play not only in higher education, but in early engagement too. Research by AtkinsRéalis and Governors for Schools (GfS) found that 78 per cent of schools still lack long-term, established relationships with STEM industries, directly limiting the talent pipeline. Additionally, only a quarter of surveyed schools have a STEM governor on their board.

AtkinsRéalis' involvement in the GfS programme is helping to address this gap by placing professionals as STEM governors in schools and academies. Since 2023, over 107 AtkinsRéalis colleagues have joined governing boards, supporting curriculum development and careers guidance for tens of thousands of under-represented learners.

These connections broaden understanding of what engineering encompasses - from AI systems and data analysis to carbon capture and resilience planning - and reveal career paths many young people don't yet know exist. The scale of the challenge led AtkinsRéalis to call on UK businesses to commit to recruiting STEM governors this year.

An industry call 

Every engineering firm should ask: who from our team is engaging with universities this year? The Visiting Professors scheme offers one model. Whether through formal programmes or guest lectures, mentorships or curriculum reviews, the industry must invest time now or pay the price in unfilled positions later.

Dr Matt Peck is director of Innovation in Transportation at AtkinsRéalis UK & Ireland and Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at Birmingham University

This article was first published in The Engineer in October 2026