The number of first-year engineering students in Germany has been falling significantly for a good five years. Prof. Jens Wulfsberg, President of the WGP, sees this as a major problem. The WGP (Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktionstechnik) is an association of leading German professors of production science. It represents the interests of research and teaching vis-à-vis politics, business and the public.
According to Wulfsberg, this not only affects universities, some of which - if the trend continues - will only be half the size in a few years' time. Of course, this also affects industry, which is already having great difficulty finding well-trained young talent. A lack of young talent is one of the biggest challenges for many companies, greater than the energy crisis and supply chain bottlenecks. The current situation at the Airbus site in Stade confirms this. Over the next twelve months, the Group could recruit 1,000 engineers. However, it is unclear where the candidates will come from.
The WGP is therefore making the recruitment and promotion of young talent a priority.
Its members decided on initial measures and released funds to, among other things, get more pupils interested in the so-called STEM subjects, as the WGP is convinced that the development of our country depends largely on this.
Young people are often unaware of how diverse the activities of an engineer are and that they can actively develop solutions for an intact environment in these professions in particular.
The WGP also wants to cooperate with other interested associations and partners from industry and politics in order to launch a broad-based, nationwide campaign. The WGP has already established contacts and an initial meeting to develop a concept is scheduled for the summer.
