Girls at the core of the UK electronics industry

Apple is once again partnering with the UK Electronics Skills Foundation (UKESF) for its Girls Into Electronics initiative. This year, a mentoring element has been added.

The UK charity works with leading universities and schools to invite female students aged 15-18 to experience the opportunities that an electronics engineering-related course can offer.  This year, the Apple + Girls into Electronics Mentoring programme offers the opportunity for Year 12 and 13 students who attended events this summer 2024 to be partnered with an Apple employee who provides mentoring from September to December. They can also join Career Spotlight sessions and have the opportunity to network with other students interested in a career in electronic engineering.

Stewart Edmondson, CEO of UKESF shared some UCAS statistics: while 56% of undergraduates in the UK are female, they make up only 18.5% of engineering undergraduates and just 11.5% of students studying electronics.

Apple works with the UKESF and has sponsored 400 girls and vocational visits to universities. Esther Hare, senior director of worldwide developer marketing at Apple, herself a computer science graduate, welcomed some of this year’s intake to Apple’s London office.

“We are really proud of this partnership  . . . it is really special,” she said. “It’s important for girls to have an opportunity to see and visit these universities and have an idea of what vocations are available, [and] see what it could be like in a degree environment in an engineering role.

The addition of a mentorship programme allows access to Apple mentor, themselves engineers who can tell students why they chose their degree subject and their own career paths.

“Our support has meant there are 18 year 12 and 13 students in the mentoring programme, getting access to mentoring and access to some of the Women in STEM programmes at universities and really getting an idea of what a career might look like,” she said.