At a time when UK industry is reportedly losing 50,000 talented young girls a year from science, technology and engineering jobs, one materials manufacturer is reversing the trend after recruiting a record number of females onto its Graduate Leadership Programme.
Morgan Advanced Materials, a global leader in the development and application of advanced material technologies, has announced more than 50% of its latest graduate intake is comprised of women from all over Europe. This is a significant increase on the company’s previous graduate recruitment campaign of which 20% of recruits were female.
Morgan’s impressive achievement comes at a time when campaigning organisation WISE recently held its national summit in the UK, during which it revealed that up to 50,000 young girls are dropping out of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) roles each year. Morgan has made a conscious decision to adapt its graduate recruitment programme this year to target more females, through focused messaging, and STEM and Women in Engineering events Morgan have helped to educate and inspire women into STEM careers, promoting engineering as a positive career choice for women.
Jane Edmondson, Graduate Programme Manager for Europe at Morgan Advanced Materials explained: “We are starting to see a lot more females at graduate level paying an interest in engineering and seriously considering it as an exciting and rewarding career. Our message to females shows that STEM roles can be highly stimulating, challenging, and fulfilling. The gender pay gap is also reducing in engineering, and more women are keen to work in innovative environments where they can make a difference to the business, our industry and their careers.”
Two female graduates for whom Morgan’s programme has been particularly beneficial are Kay Jervis and Lin Wang, who have both been awarded for their work by some of Morgan’s educational partners. Kay, a Technology Analyst, was recently honoured with the A T Green Award from the Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining for her Undergraduate studies at The University of Manchester, whilst Lin was recently awarded the Morgan Advanced Materials prize at Loughborough University for the Best MSc ceramics project, which explored the processing of novel ceramic oxide ion conductors. Lin’s project combined classroom and real work learning, conducted under the leadership and guidance of Morgan’s experienced team. Both Kay and Lin are continuing to flourish as part of Morgan’s Graduate Leadership Programme.
Kay Jervis is also spending considerable time working with Morgan’s Global Materials Centre of Excellence, which is dedicated to some of the exciting new material innovations that the company is working on. The Centre of Excellence, together with Morgan’s focus on sponsoring awards to promote the recognition of talent and dedication among its graduates, is empowering learners to continue to be successful. This is also reflected by Morgan’s recent inclusion in RateMyPlacement’s top 35 medium-sized undergraduate employers in the UK, demonstrating the company’s commitment to STEM education.
For more information visit: http://www.morganadvancedmaterials.com/female-grad
