Pupils from participating schools have recently attended a number of industry visits as part of North East Scotland College’s Skills for Work Energy - all female - programme.
The Girls in Energy course, as it is known, is sponsored by Shell UK and has been designed to encourage more girls to consider a Science Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) related career. Open to pupils aged 14 to 17 participating schools include Banff; Hazelhead; The Gordon Schools - Huntly; Mintlaw; Peterhead and Turriff.
John Raine, Social Investment for Shell, said “Shell has a vital role to play in inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists. We need to develop and recruit the right people to meet one of the biggest challenges facing the world right now: Delivering affordable and sustainable energy, while reducing carbon emissions.
“We know the UK is facing a major shortage of STEM skills. Research tells us that we need to double the number of people going into engineering and critically we need to encourage more women to consider a career in the energy industry – who are traditionally are under-represented in the energy industry.
“So, Shell and NESCol have developed a Skills for Work programme called “Girls in Energy” where working in collaboration with our industry partners, we hope to open the students eyes to the wealth of careers available to them in the energy industry.”
This National 5 year long course includes the opportunity for pupils to meet industry representatives and attend site visits. To date the girls have enjoyed several industry visits including trips to Mackie’s of Scotland, Keenan Recycling Ltd, Score Group plc, Weatherford and the new Dynamic Advanced Responsive training (DART®) facilities at Robert Gordon University (RGU).