The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science and Engineering Wrexham University has been awarded a fund to make her invented toolkit available to many more universities in UK.
The invention, known as Equity Development Growth Employment (EDGE) toolkit, according to Professor Anne Nortcliffe is aims to address problem faced by minority groups in engineering and will be introduced to all higher institution of learning.
Supported by a £20,000 grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Diversity Impact Programme, Equity Development Growth Employment (EDGE) toolkit seeks to revolutionize inclusivity in the education community and job market by addressing stark disparities in graduate employment outcomes.
Engineering remains one of the least diverse STEM fields in the UK, with racial minorities, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, and students from low-income backgrounds facing persistent underrepresentation.
A Recent data from the Office for Students (2024) underscores this imbalance. While 73% of white male engineering graduates were able to make it into engineering practice, only 71.6% of women, 68.7% of Asian graduates, 69.8% of Black graduates, and similarly low figures for LGBTQ+ and socioeconomically disadvantaged students were able to make it. These gaps highlight systemic inequities in hiring practices and workplace cultures—a reality the EDGE toolkit directly aim to address.
According to Professor Anne Nortcliffe, the toolkit is designed to benefit academics, employers, and students in four ways which are:
- Empowering employers and students to overcome employment related difficulties
- Open their understanding to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) principles.
- Encouraging participation and growth in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) program and
- Equipping organizations and individual alike to build inclusive environments.
Professor Nortcliffe got funding to develop the toolkit during her tenure as Head of the School of Engineering at Canterbury Christ Church University. It has also been in use at Wrexham University and now to be introduce to other higher instructions of learning where engineering is being taught in UK.
Professor Nortcliffe said that she wants students from the minority backgrounds to celebrate their unique ideas and the value they add to society noting that their unique insights—shaped by cultural experiences, gender identity, or socioeconomic hurdles—are assets to the engineering world and cannot afford to be lose.
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