Demand from school leavers for careers in engineering has shot up, according to Aberdeen’s two universities.
Both Robert Gordon University (RGU) and Aberdeen University saw increases in applications for engineering courses this year.
RGU alone said it had more than six applications for each of the 176 places on its BEng and MEng engineering degrees.
The interest in engineering careers, including in the offshore sector, comes as firms and organisations in the oil and gas industry say they are facing a major skills shortage.
Subsea UK recently said 10,000 jobs would need to be filled in its sector in coming years. Meanwhile Oil and Gas UK recently held a skills summit in order to try and tackle skills shortages.
However, despite the increase in applications, the universities are not able to greatly increase their intake and some of the higher interest is also coming from overseas – students who may not stay in the local jobs market.
Jonathan Shackleton, spokesman for RGU, said: “After last year’s figures, we increased our entry requirements in maths and physics and tech studies in order to deal with the demand, so this year, not only have the numbers increased but the quality of those applicants is also higher.
“In the last year, we have also seen a rise in the number of employers, particularly those in the oil and gas industry, who wish to come on campus to meet with students and promote their opportunities to them.”
He said of the companies and organisations booked to attend the university’s careers fair on November 1, more than a third were seeking engineering graduates.
RGU said it had 1,168 applications for just 176 places on its engineering courses this year – more than six applications per place at the university. Last year, the figure was 964 applications for 171 places on undergraduate full-time BEng and MEng degrees in mechanical and offshore engineering, mechanical engineering, engineering and electronic and electrical engineering.
Aberdeen University said applications from Scotland and the rest of the UK for its engineering courses were up 5% this year, following a 19% increase last year. Applications from overseas students were up 32%.
For postgraduate courses the number was higher, with applications from Scotland and the UK up 14% and up 26% from overseas students.
However, it said student intake is controlled by the Scottish Funding Council for Scottish students so it did not expect to see a rise in entrants and that not all overseas applications would be approved due issues like visa applications.