Education & Student Resources

Education - A Crucial Issue Now and for the Future

One of the often heard pleas whenever ITS professionals get together is the lack of trained ITS personnel. This, it is claimed, is holding back the introduction of ITS as there are too few people to undertake the work that all can see is necessary to address the transport challenges of the 21st century. This affects those in the purchasing organisations, who do not have the expertise to define and specify their requirements, those in the manufacturing arena who do not have the expertise to design and manufacture the equipment needed, and those in the service sectors who cannot obtain the expertise necessary to design and operate ITS systems.

 How have we got into such a state with  a new and rapidly growing technology, and more importantly how can we address this dilemma? If we look at the traditional ways in which engineers are trained we get some clues as to what we need to do. 30 years ago, most engineers in the UK took a first degree in one of the engineering disciplines and that gave sufficient broadly based skill to take a job at the bottom of the professional engineering market. The graduates were then given a rude awakening either, for the lucky ones, through a training scheme, or by less formal, but nevertheless effective means of moving around companies to get a good background in all activities ofthe company. Those who joined a rapidly developing sector, such as electronics, then hung onto the technology and grew with the technology as it developed, changing and developing skills as necessary to keep in touch with new developments. This often meant that time had to be squeezed into a busy schedule to attend seminars and other activities to keep up with the current technology.

Sadly this approach has been lost over the years as organisations have sought to become more efficient and the time taken to undertake these training tasks has been squashed out.

Looking at this scene, it seems we first need a good education system that will provide basic engineering skills, which will include ITS where appropriate at first degree and masters levels. Then all organisations, both public and private sectors must take training and skill developments seriously and not assume that the skill can be bought in. Maybe in the short term it can, at a price, but in the long term it must lead to a reducing skill base and fewer staff able to work in the area. We need to be able to take people with some understanding of the technology and give them enthusiasm to develop those skills and time and opportunity to explore the new technologies. There are a number of organisations, ITS United Kingdom included, who do run seminars and workshops on ITS that are ideal for keeping staff up to date and introducing others to the technology. But it is costly, there is no short cut, time and energy must be spent on the training task. Let us know what you want and organisation such as ITS United Kingdom can provide short courses and seminars. Too often we find we are talking to the same, very knowledgeable and friendly faces, at our seminars and workshops. The engineering institutions have done a good job in encouraging continuing professional development, but still it is rare for the ITS professional to bring along a young engineer to any of the seminars or workshop events. If we are not willing to train our own staff, we really cannot expect others to train our staff for us.

 Student Membership of ITS (UK)

Full time students enrolled at Universities which are Members of ITS (UK) - Aberdeen, Newcastle, Leeds, Loughborough, Glamorgan, Southampton, Westminster and Imperial College - can join ITS (UK) for free.  Other full time students can join for a small administration fee.  For more information, click here.  For an application form, click here.

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