OREANDA-NEWS. National Grid is proud to support the winners of the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Robert Kahn, Vint Cerf, Louis Pouzin will receive their trophies from Her Majesty the Queen in front of an audience expected to include the leaders of UK's three main political parties.

Lord Browne of Madingley, the Chair of Trustees for the Prize, says he hopes the winners' success will spur more young people to consider a career in engineering.

“Today is an auspicious day for engineering. The first ever winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering are being recognised at the highest level for their world-changing achievements, and they should be held up as role models for what young people can achieve by being engineers.”

“Engineering is one of the highest paid professions in the UK but figures show that nine out of ten students give up maths and science at school at the age of 16. This has created a severe shortage of engineers, a problem which a number of global businesses are keen to address.”

“A solution to this shortage of engineers is within our grasp. UK universities offer world-class engineering courses, with the capacity to accept many more students. Engineering is experiencing a renaissance in public life, and the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering is playing an important role in this.”

The prize ceremony comes on the same day that a new study undertaken by the Royal Academy of Engineering is published. The 'Skills for the Nation' report shows that the demand for engineers across all sectors of the UK economy exceeds supply.

It shows that engineering remains a highly attractive career option for young people. But where teaching programmes in 46 of the UK's most established universities consistently are being filled to capacity, many of the UK's new universities - which include a number of former polytechnics - have undersubscribed engineering courses.

“The Academy's labour market studies show significant demand for graduate engineers, evidenced by employers' readiness to pay salary premiums” says Professor Kel Fidler FREng, co-author of the 'Skills for the nation' report. “This, coupled with the capacity available to engage more of our brightest youngsters in high quality well-resourced Professional Engineering Institution Accredited Courses in many of our newer universities augurs well”.