Unison employees help inspire future engineers

Unison employees help inspire future engineers

Unison is one of a number of companies across the country working with the Industry of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) to inspire students to choose engineering as a career pathway.

IPENZ identified there was a serious shortage of engineers, technologists and scientists in New Zealand. To address this, they developed the ‘Futureintech’ programme to inspire and encourage students to continue studying maths and sciences in their last years at school.

“Unison already offers undergraduate and graduate programmes aimed at supporting talented university students in their engineering career. Visiting schools as part of the Futureintech programme provides us the opportunity to encourage secondary school students to take that first step towards a career in engineering,” said Unison Group Chief Executive Officer Ken Sutherland.

Jenny Dee, Futureintech Facilitator for Hawke’s Bay said a big part of the problem was a lack of awareness about what these careers involve.

“Students and their influencers – parents, caregivers, teachers and careers advisors – need better information about the opportunities available, and we hope that young engineers visiting and talking to schools can help fulfil this need.”

Four Unison employees are involved in the programme. For some schools, Unison staff may just talk to students about how they use subjects like physics, chemistry and maths as part of their jobs, and in some cases Unison employees are actively involved in projects over the duration of the school year.

Unison Smart Network Engineer, Jennifer Wen is working with a Year 13 physics class at Taradale High School on a solar energy project.

“Working with students on projects allows them to see a practical application of the theory. The project they are working on is actually very similar to one we set up at Unison as part of our research into how household wind and solar generation can benefit the electricity network and customers.”

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