Automotive
The new research reveals that only 3.5% of female
university students would definitely consider a career in the automotive
industry - although 35% say that they may do so. But 61.5% of female university
students say they will not be considering the automotive industry as a future
career option at all.
The figures are very different for male students; 61% of
them say they are very interested in the motor industry, and 39% say they would
definitely not consider a career in the sector.
"It is disappointing to learn that so few female students
are considering a career in the motor industry, said Autocar editor Chas
Hallett. "As we launch the 2011 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award, we
really do want to encourage female university students to put pen to paper and
enter. Its such a great
opportunity.
"The industry does have a number of women doing great
things right now - for example, Anna-Louise Clough, Colour and Materials Design
Manager and Lianne Daly, Head of Marketing, McLaren Automotive, Fiona Pargeter,
global PR Director for Land Rover, and one of the Autocar-Courland Next
Generation protégés, Holly Robinson. She was runner-up of the Next Generation
Award in 2009 and now works for Audi.
"There are numerous career opportunities for ambitious
graduates, from design through to showroom, and that includes the obvious
engineering-led roles but also specialist marketing, public relations,
sustainability, accounting, policy, human resources as well as customer-facing
opportunities.
The research showed vast regional differences, at the top
of the table more students from East Midlands are looking to join the motor
industry, followed by Scotland, North East, West Midlands, South East, London,
Yorkshire and Humberside, South West, East Anglia, Northern Ireland and North
West. No students from Wales that
responded to the survey are looking to the motor industry for their future
career.
The Autocar-Courland Next
Generation Award is a national competition to identify, support and develop top
automotive talent of the future. Entrants from UK universities are invited to
answer a brief set by Autocar's Editor-in-chief, Steve Cropley.
The Brief - Autocar-Courland Next
Generation Award 2011
Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award entries
should be no more than 500 words long and written in English. They should also
include images or illustrations, if relevant.
"Using your area of
expertise, write a 500-word proposal suggesting some improvement (be it an
invention, a legislative change, a change to corporate policy or the adoption
of a new convention) which you believe would be a worthwhile benefit to the
automotive business, on a small or large scale."
2010
winner Hari Meyyappan who
studied at Loughborough University commented, "I am really delighted on winning
the Autocar Next Generation award 2010 and I consider it to be a very important
success for my career. Just over a
month ago, I was reading about last year's winner and I never expected that I
would be standing beside him so soon.
"I am eagerly looking forward to the placements
with the 5 sponsor companies. I
feel that these placements will be life changing events that are going to
happen in a very short period of time. This dream prize would serve as a unique
'money-can't-buy' opportunity for students to have a very broad exposure in the
rapidly growing automotive industry. I wish to sincerely thank Autocar,
Courland and the 5 sponsor companies for the prize and also for providing me
such a platform to present my idea!
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