Why do UK companies now have to import engineers?

Question

from China? I mean what is so specialised about this work that a native speaker couldn't be trained up to do the same job?

Answer 1

Because the UK does not value engineers (I am talking professional engineers here, with degrees) but places like China do.  However, not valuing something is not the same as not needing it, and because the UK simply cannot be arsed to promote engineering, and because many of the few we do produce go elsewhere where they will be appreciated, we need to import them.

If you tried to train as an engineer you would soon understand what is "so specialised" about it.  It's not the same as doing a "film studies" degree.

Answer 2

Because UK schools are not teaching mathematics and sciences properly anymore.

Thanks to the privatisation of the matriculation boards  (which means in practice that they will set easier exams, meaning more candidates pass, to encourage schools to use them)  and parental choice of schools  (which means the schools will use whichever board sets the easiest exams, so as to get a high percentage of passes; and well-meaning parents will steer their children towards what are perceived as "good" schools without a thought for what might be happening in the other schools)  education in Britain has been irreparably damaged.

Maths and science are subjects where there are right and wrong answers; and there is no way to change that, not by bribing officials, not by crying, not by living in denial.  Some people are good at them, and some aren't.  This is the exact opposite of what the Labour party stands for.

Answer 3

There is a shortage of trained engineers in this country (politics and it isnt a high profile career). So to get the staff that they need the companies have to employ staff from wherever they can get them.

British Engineers are world class and in demand overseas - and many British engineers work overseas too to earn the money to match their qualifications (which they can only rarely get in theis country). This creates the shortage of staff.

So what do engineers do? Well anything that needs building in this country will be designed by an engineer and this takes knowledge and skills that most of the British workforce dont want to gain.

Answer 4

Schools are encouraged to teach pupils about subjects like political correctness and citizenship instead of proper subjects like the sciences and judging by some of the answers on this site English.

Answer 5

It's your taxes... I work with TONS of UK engineers overseas.  They don't want to work back home because of the unreasonable tax burden.  The lack of local talent causes the UK companies to go to China and India for people who can do the work.

Something tells me that you don't have an engineering degree.... if you did, you might understand "what is so specialised" about the work.  You can't just take some guy out of the pub and give him a slide rule.  It takes years of training and experience to be an engineer.  

Those Chinese engineers you're talking about probably have PhD's and they are probably working for 20 thousand quid a year!

Answer 6

This is to do with the "dumbing down" of education to fulfill Government targets. Difficult subjects, like the sciences, are discouraged from being taken up as a subject by the Teachers, for fear of diluting the grades of the whole school.

A native speaker can be trained up, but that would require a trained up Teacher.

Who would be in Government with knowledge of the Law of Unintended Consequences?

Answer 7

Because a lot of our professionals are now emigrating. Also there are a lot of people coming into the UK to work, because their countries are so poor, people in poorer countries know how to live much cheaper than us here, so they are prepared to work longer hours for less pay.

Answer 8

Hard working, knowledgeable, probably cheaper, more submissive than an average UK employee who most likely think about where to go on Friday nights.

Answer 9

because they will work for less money and longer hours than us british ever would!!!