IET and Dyson support apprentices

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), with the support of the James Dyson Foundation, announces the launch of a new award to recognise the achievements of young female engineers on a modern apprenticeship scheme.
The Institution is now inviting entries for The Dyson Young Woman Engineering Apprentice of the Year Award, a unique award for the UK that promotes the value of apprenticeships and the highly skilled and innovative individuals that they produce.
The judges will be looking for candidates that can demonstrate a contribution to the workplace beyond the realms of their normal duties and dynamism in their approach to the solution of engineering problems.
The winner will also have to demonstrate her ability to act as an enthusiastic role model to encourage other young women to enter the profession of engineering through the apprenticeship route.
The Dyson Young Woman Engineering Apprentice of the Year Award will form part of the IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award in recognising and promoting women within the engineering industry, highlighting the shortage of female role models within the profession and demonstrating that engineering is a great career choice for women.
James Dyson, president of the James Dyson Foundation said: “We are pleased to be supporting this award. We strongly believe that women have a valuable role to play within engineering, design and technology. Embarking on an apprenticeship scheme is a good route into engineering: it’s very much about being involved and hands on from day one. Too much importance is placed on going to university. We are encouraged to become middle-class professionals and to avoid industry and manufacturing; however, many overlook the rewarding opportunities that industry can offer young people, particularly women who are not traditionally encouraged to enter these fields”.
The winner of the Dyson Young Woman Engineering Apprentice award will receive a cheque for £750, donated by the James Dyson Foundation and an inscribed certificate that will be presented at the Young Woman Engineer of the Year awards ceremony in London on 25 January 2007.
For further information please visit www.youngwomanapprentice.org.