(31h) Whynotchemeng – Securing the Talent Pipeline of Chemical and Process Engineers in the United Kingdom

Founded in 1922, the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a professional and qualifying body serving 30,000 members worldwide. The institution employs 65 professional staff in the United Kingdom, Australia and Malaysia. More recently a staff presence has been established in Singapore and in China.

IChemE accredits over 200 first degree programmes at 57 universities in 13 countries; and whilst the maintenance of benchmark quality standards in the quality of Chemical Engineering education has always been a key priority for the Institution, the broader issue of securing a sustainable pipeline of applicants to such programmes was not viewed as a serious challenge for the first 70 years of the Institution's existence. Indeed, during the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's, a period described by some as the ?heyday' of chemical engineering in the developed world, applications remained buoyant, competition for places remained healthy and the academic performance of applicants was not a cause for concern by admission tutors.

Social, technological and demographic changes in the 1980's brought an end to this comfortable state of affairs. In common with many Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical disciplines, Chemical engineering began to lose its lustre and by the mid 1990's it became apparent that a sharp decline in applications presented a serious threat to the continued offer of chemical engineering first degree programmes in the UK.

With commendable foresight, IChemE's governing Council anticipated the looming crisis and commissioned a study in 1997, led by Past President, Bill Wilkinson.

The resulting, ?Wilkinson Report' made a series of recommendations and laid the foundations for what became known as the IChemE's whynotchemeng campaign. Launched in 2001, whynotchemeng adopted a radically different approach to careers work previously deployed in the chemical and process engineering sector. The traditional focus on large scale industrial complexes, pumps, pipework and a tendency to depict the typical chemical engineer as a middle aged white man in a hard hat was swept away, to be replaced by a lively and colourful suite of campaign material that focused on consumer product outcomes, career lifestyles, earnings potential and ultimately on the role of the chemical engineer in delivering a sustainable future for humankind.

In addition, the campaign drew upon contemporary marketing and public relations techniques, delivering a tightly focused communication plan based on the Internet, direct mail, relationship building with key schools and crucially the deployment of ?real' chemical engineers in a school setting. Funding was provided, initially from the Institution's reserve and subsequently via its annual operating budget. Additional financial support was secured from a wide range of industry sponsors and from the overwhelming majority of university departments offering IChemE accredited programmes.

The campaign has been an outstanding success. Undergraduate intake has grown by 75% and further growth is anticipated with figures published in July 2009 revealing that course applications doubled since 2002. Progress that compares very favourably with benchmark disciplines including chemistry and mechanical engineering. A variant of the whynotchemeng campaign was launched in Australia in 2007.

The paper will examine the strategies and tactics used across the first two phases of the whynotchemeng campaign with a detailed analysis of the application and intake trends and the findings of quantitative research amongst undergraduates in the UK. Options for future consolidation in the third phase of the whynotchemeng campaign, which was launched in 2009 will be considered, as well as the potential for the extension of campaign to territories beyond the UK and Australia.