Supporting STEM
Equipping young people with skills in science, engineering, technology and maths (STEM) is essential to powering the UK economy and tackling global challenges, including the energy transition.
Shell UK has supported STEM education for more than 60 years. In this time, we have helped young people access high quality STEM programmes through the passage of their education. We have also contributed to the diversity and number of young people in the UK going into engineering careers.
Find out more about some of the programmes supported by Shell below.
Girls in Energy
Girls in Energy is a year-long engineering course for young people. It is sponsored by Shell UK and delivered in partnership with North East Scotland College and Fife College.
The Girls in Energy programme has been specifically designed to encourage young women to engage in STEM subjects, and to consider a career in the global energy sector through weekly lessons, workshops and field visits.
Young Engineers & Science Clubs
The Scottish Development Council for Development (SCDI) is behind the Industry Young Engineers & Science Clubs (YESC). These give young people aged five to 16 the opportunity to take part in hands-on activities and experiments, sparking enthusiasm in STEM subjects. The interdisciplinary projects support teachers to tackle challenging STEM concepts while supporting pupils to develop valuable skills and knowledge that intends to encourage greater uptake in STEM subjects and careers. This includes bringing teams together from across Scotland to showcase their work to industry experts.
STEM Youth Board
Shell UK sponsors the STEM Youth Board, composed of S3 – S5 pupils and created by TechFest, and Aberdeen Science Centre to ensure activities are relevant, peer led and appealing to youngsters across the North-east of Scotland and beyond.
NESCol Schools Technology College
North East Scotland College’s annual STEM skills competition for S2 pupils, sponsored by Shell UK, brings teams together from schools across the region to take part in STEM challenges. More than 3,000 pupils take part in the initial stage of the competition, with 300 making the second round before two pupils from each school are selected for the final. The challenge was introduced to encourage wider participation in STEM subjects, and to inspire young people to progress to rewarding careers across a wide range of sectors.
Tomorrow's Engineers Code
Increasing the diversity and number of people going into engineering is a huge challenge – and not something one company can do alone. That’s why Shell UK was instrumental in shaping “The Code” a framework for increasing sector-wide collaboration, so that science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) programs work better together. The idea for “The Code” came from a Shell-hosted roundtable, as part of the government’s year of engineering campaign, which was dedicated to exploring how we can improve co-ordination in the sector. We worked alongside the UK government’s Department for Education and over 100 organisations and individuals to shape it.
The initiative is built on four key pledges: providing a comprehensive STEM journey for all youth, ensuring equitable access to engineering-inspiration activities, promoting a positive perception of engineering and its opportunities, and enhancing monitoring and evaluation to better understand program effectiveness.
Aberdeen Science Centre
Aberdeen Science Centre (ASC) has been an important education resource in the Northeast of Scotland for more than 30 years. Established in 1988, ASC was the first science centre in Scotland and its ethos of interactive science discovery is still a cornerstone of everything it does today. Shell UK’s sponsorship supports ASC to deliver quality exhibits and STEM programs and outreach work.
TechFest
TechFest is an Aberdeen-based charity which aims to engage young people in the four main STEM subjects and encourage them to go on to follow a career which utilises these skills by demonstrating that they are both fun and relevant in day-to-day life. TechFest runs the highly popular TechFest Science Festival, co-sponsored by Shell UK and bp, which attracts tens of thousands of children and adults to a series of STEM-based events in and around Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, as well as a year-round program of educational events for schools and young people.
This is Engineering campaign
Shell is a principal partner of This is Engineering, a multi-year campaign led by the Royal Academy of Engineering in partnership with EngineeringUK, and major engineering organisations to encourage more young people, from all backgrounds, to consider engineering careers.
The campaign has been created by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, as part of their broader campaign to address the significant skills and diversity shortfall hampering the profession. At the heart of This is Engineering are a series of short videos, profiling young engineers who are doing something remarkable.
This is Engineering is looking to remove cultural perceptions of engineering as narrow, mechanical, dull or too technical and re-brand the profession by talking to young people about the engineering that shapes the things they love, like sport, fashion and tech. Shell has joined that mission to provide up-to-date, modern views on engineering and provide great careers information from Tomorrow’s Engineers.
Watch videos, explore exciting job profiles and see young engineering heroes reveal why they chose engineering and how they followed their passions into a rewarding career at This is Engineering.
Shell Engineering Scheme
The Shell UK Engineering Scheme is a highly sought after and prestigious training program run in partnership with North East Scotland College (NESCol). It was launched in 2002 to develop the local skills needed to build and operate the Goldeneye Project at St Fergus, Aberdeenshire.
The Scheme is a bespoke program designed to enable young people to access training that helps them secure engineering jobs in the energy sector. It is an intense course, over a two-year period, with a mix of practical and theoretical work that helps students prepare for the world of work.
The students graduate with a PEO (Performing Engineering Operations) + NC (National Certificate) + 2 Higher National qualifications, and an SVQ in Performing Engineering Operations. They also receive training in health & safety, management, team working and interpersonal skills. This course is designed to create a rounded graduate who can access many of the opportunities the oil and gas sector has to offer.
