The Engineering Professors’ Council welcomes the Chancellor’s commitment to science and innovation. Engineering has proved to be the powerhouse of economic growth (Royal Academy of Engineering – Engineering for a successful nation: economic returns of engineering research) so it is good to see the announcements of new funding for a range of engineering-related innovation initiatives encompassing infrastructure, energy, health and mobility and more.
Retaining global leadership in innovation needs continuing development of highly specialist skills of the type that our universities work with industry to deliver. We therefore welcome particularly the announcement about financial support for postgraduates, something for which we have long campaigned, and look forward to working through the detail on – and seeing a continuing commitment for – the new support for PhDs and research-based Master’s degrees.
