A SIXTH form college has joined forces with various firms to enable its students to gain the skills needed for a career in engineering.

Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College (QE), in Darlington, has launched Future Engineers, an initiative that will see it work in partnership with various employers to provide its students with experience, practical skills and insight into the wide range of careers within engineering.

Firms including Mechtool, Amec, Cummins, Modus, Henry Williams, Jacobs, DeepOcean, Whessoe Oil and Gas, The James Cook University Hospital, Bagby International Airfield, Glaxo- SmithKline and Rolls-Royce have signed up to the scheme, alongside Darlington Borough Council and various training providers.

The students participating in Future Engineers will benefit from a range of opportunities, including work experience, visits to organisations, links with university engineering departments, mentoring and e-mentoring.

The firms and organisations supporting the initiative will give students a range of experiences so that they understand the educational routes into engineering careers, as well as preparing them for university or jobs.

Thirty-four second-year students have already won places on the scheme and it will be opened to new first-year students shortly.

Liz Bryan, QE’s higher education and employment applications coordinator, said the college was keen to raise awareness of the work employers are doing on cutting-edge projects as well as highlighting the excellent prospects of working globally as an engineer.

She said: “We are very excited about our Future Engineers Scheme and working with other organisations to help prepare our students for progression, as well as giving them an insight into engineering as a career.

“We are looking forward to helping create engineers of the future.”

Edward John, 17, who is studying four A-levels, including maths and physics, is one of the second-year students involved in the scheme.

He said: “I have been interested in engineering, but never thought about it as a prospect for studying at university, but this has drawn me to it.

“I think there is a perception about engineering that is out of date. I think if it hasn’t been explained you may think it is all vices and lathes or people in white lab coats. I think people don’t understand about the professional engineers who do design work and the really technical work involved.”

Engineering companies have previously spoken about the need to encourage more young women to take up careers in the sector.

Charlotte Urwin, 17, who is studying three A-levels, including maths and physics, wants to learn more about a medical engineering career through the scheme.

She said: “I know when I was at school we went on an engineering trip involving other schools and we were the only one to take any girls.

I think we need to get more women into it.”

It comes as the engineering sector, a major employer in the North- East, is facing skills gaps with an aging workforce and not enough young people coming forward to fill the gaps. About 8,500 skilled workers are due to retire from engineering and manufacturing roles in the region by 2016.

A number of the firms involved in the project, as well as the QE, are already partners in the Foundation for Jobs project, a key part of which involves encouraging young people to look at opportunities in sectors such as engineering, which are expected to be major creators of jobs in the North-East.

Now a national award-winning project, Foundation for Jobs is a joint initiative to tackle youth unemployment involving Darlington Borough Council, The Northern Echo and the Darlington Partnership of private firms and public sector organisations, which has also enjoyed support from businesses and industrialists across the whole North-East region.