Apple set to inspire thousands of young people across the UK for the Year of Engineering

Students in Cardiff and London go behind the scenes with Apple as the tech giant kicks off its Year of Engineering Field Trips.

Schoolchildren in Cardiff and London were today given the chance to try coding, engineering and design – with a helping hand from the creatives behind the world’s biggest technology company. The students were some of the first to take part in Apple’s Year of Engineering Field Trips, which will see more than 1,700 students age 5 to 18 go behind the scenes at Apple stores from Aberdeen and Leeds, to Belfast and Birmingham.

Apple announced its support for the Year of Engineering in April and during November will run almost 100 field trips across all 38 Apple stores in the UK to give young people the unique chance to meet and work with the creatives behind its ground-breaking innovations. During the Field Trips, students will create their own digital projects and explore how they can think like an engineer, covering everything from coding and robotics to transport and the solar system. Apple has worked with the Year of Engineering to ensure the Field Trips can help students from schools that might not have previously engaged in STEM outreach activities.

Throughout the Year of Engineering, government has joined forces with more than 1,400 partners to transform perceptions of engineering, tackling a major skills gap and lack of diversity in the industry while showing young people the vast opportunities the profession has to offer. Partners from Apple and FIFA to Siemens and the Science Museum have played a vital role in showing young people the engineering all around us through activities, challenges and the chance to meet real engineers. By the end of 2018 the campaign is expected to have delivered one million of these inspiring experiences.

To see the partnership in action, Minister for the Year of Engineering Nusrat Ghani joined students from Holy Trinity School in Hackney at Apple Regent Street, while HM Government Envoy for the Year of Engineering Stephen Metcalfe MP went behind the scenes at Apple Cardiff St David’s 2 with pupils from Ysgol Nantgwyn school in Penygraig.

Minister for the Year of Engineering Nusrat Ghani said:

Engineering careers are exciting, creative and shape the world around us. That’s why we’re delighted to be joining forces with Apple in this Year of Engineering to show young people from all backgrounds what they could achieve.

This is a real golden ticket opportunity for schoolchildren across the UK to go behind the scenes at the biggest tech company in the world, and I’m sure it will help inspire the next generation of engineers to play their part in the innovations of the future.

Johny Srouji, senior vice president hardware technologies, Apple said:

We are hiring the very best engineering talent from across Europe in the fields of silicon design and verification and offering a range of complementary roles in software engineering and modelling.

Engineering touches every part of our lives and during the UK’s Year of Engineering we’re also delighted to be supporting efforts to inspire interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

HM Government Envoy for the Year of Engineering Stephen Metcalfe MP said:

The Year of Engineering is all about showing young people that engineering careers are open to them, regardless of their gender, ethnicity and background. Engineers design the technology and infrastructure that each of use every day, and it’s fantastic to see Apple bring this to life for schoolchildren in all corners of the UK.

Engineering makes a major contribution to the UK economy, but the sector faces a major skills gap and lack of diversity – there is annual shortage of 20,000 engineering graduates each year, only 12% of the engineering workforce is female, and less than 8% comes from a black, Asian or ethnic minority background.

Find out about the Year of Engineering, including activities, events, videos and school resources.

More about Apple Year of Engineering field trips for schools.