Great interest from school pupils in civil engineering lab demonstrations

Over eighty students from secondary and primary schools in Galway attended laboratory demonstrations in the GMIT Building & Civil Engineering Department which were designed to give pupils a flavour of the various career opportunities in civil engineering, as part of Engineers Week (March). The students learned about the positive contribution which civil engineering can make to their futures and to the future of the planet.

Engineers week is a week-long festival of nationwide events celebrating the world of Engineering in Ireland.

“Engineering touches every part of our lives and offers young people the chance to make a positive difference to the world in which we live”, says Shane Newell, lecturer in the Building & Civil Engineering Dept, and co-ordinator of this year’s GMIT programme of events.

“The ‘Engineering 2019’ report published by Engineers Ireland recently states that the supply of civil and building engineers must dramatically increase to meet the country’s current and future needs. Almost all (94%) of the engineering employers surveyed however consider a shortage of experienced engineers to be a barrier to growth – and almost half expect this situation to get worse in 2019. Civil and building engineers are most in demand with 59% of organisations surveyed looking to hire engineers in this discipline,” explained Mr Newell.

For further information on GMIT’s Engineering programmes, see: https://www.gmit.ie/engineering/school-engineering

ENDS

Galway-Mayo IT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT are working towards becoming a Technological University for the west and northwest of Ireland.

Regina Daly
GMIT Communications Officer
GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway
Tel. 091 742826 / 087-9618355 (m) regina.daly@gmit.ie
www.gmit.ie/news