Sir James Dyson vows to tackle shortfall of female engineers

Sir James Dyson said 27 per cent of the graduates enrolled in his privately-funded university are women as he doubles down on efforts to boost the number of female engineers.

The billionaire founder of Dyson plans to drive the number up to 50 per cent in coming years as part of his cru- sade to tackle Britain’s dearth of engineering talent.

Women make up just 16 per cent of students studying undergraduate engineering in the UK, while only 9 per cent of practising engineers are female, according to figures cited by the firm.

His comments come as the vacuum, hair care and hand dryer manufacturer ushered in its first students on to a four- year engineering degree after the firm secured university status for the Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology.

More than 850 people applied for 25 positions at the university, forcing the firm to bolster its intake to 33 due to the “exceptionally high-calibre of the candidates”.

Dyson said: “Something like 45 per cent of our workforce here are female. We don’t think that is good enough. We want to get the intake up to 50 per cent [female] and a much higher percentage of female engineers in our workforce.

“In my view, I think women like to see a practical outcome of engineering and not just the academic study of it.”

Dyson launched the institute to feed home grown talent into the engineering industry. 0 Sir James Dyson is one of Britain’s top entrepreneurs