More to engineering than greasy cars

Greasy mechanics, difficult work, fixing cars – that's what comes to mind when some teenagers think of engineering.

But not enough are making a career of it so New Zealand needs about 500 more engineering graduates over the next three to five years – especially from the NZ Diploma in Engineering and Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree.

That's according to the Government-funded Engineering Education to Employment (E2E) group, which has $6m to put into initiatives to show students engineering is about more than buildings and bridges.

At an engineering in action day at Wintec's Hamilton Rotokauri campus on Tuesday, teenagers had varying views on their peers' image of the domain.

Matamata College's Jared Orr, 16, thinks they picture ''a greasy mechanic or something''.

He's looking at a career in electrical, automotive or aeronautical engineering.

''I've always been hands on, like fiddling with things, taking things apart.''

Schoolmate Harry Lye, 16, thought it was seen as a layman's job but said that was changing.

Deliya Jose, from Hamilton Girls' High, is aiming for electronics or software engineering.

''I think a lot of people just think engineering is hard and it's for the most intelligent people,'' the 17-year-old said.

''Everyone thinks there's only one type of engineer.''

Students from Te Kuiti College had a car-focused view.

''Our kind of people would think of it as cars, mostly, but I actually like to do welding...building or fixing stuff,'' said Vai Law, 16.

Some students' perception of engineering made them rule it out early, Wintec chief executive Mark Flowers said.

''It's possible that an image comes into your mind of people working with machinery, with spanners... building bridges and making roads.''

But engineers were also the people who made innovative ideas work, for example in robotics or electronics.

Another contributor to the problem was a bias towards university education, he said, which meant students might overlook institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs).

Past generations ''think of ITPs as polytechnics that teach trades'' even though they run degrees and professional programmes.

Wintec is also part of the government-backed ‘Make the World’ campaign which launched last week, a campaign aimed at changing perceptions and inspiring young New Zealanders to choose a career in engineering. Read more about it here.