Minister Quinn endorses Engineers Week 2012

Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, has encouraged students, schools and parents to get involved in Engineers Week 2012. The event, run by Engineers Ireland, be taking place from 27 February to 4 March 2012 and will be based on the theme of ‘connecting our lives’.

Highlight events over the week include the launch of the 2012 State of Ireland infrastructure report on Monday 27 February followed on 28 February by an ‘ethical hackathon’ exploring security issues for third level technology students. Volunteer engineers will visit schools to explain the importance of maths and engineering employers across Ireland will welcome the public on organised tours of their facilities so they can learn more about the vital role engineers play in the community.

Minister Quinn said Engineers Week can support classroom learning by providing examples of maths appled to real world problems. "I hope that the events planned as part of Engineers Week 2012 will show students that maths is important in everyday life," he said. "This is a key principle of the new Project Maths programme, which is being rolled out across all post-primary schools."

John Power, director general, Engineers Ireland, said: "Engineers Week… is focused on highlighting the career opportunities available to Irish students in engineering. We’d encourage students, teachers and parents to log onto our website and find an event close to them. We hope that by the end of the week people will have a better understanding of what engineers do and specifically within the organisations in their local area."

For further information log onto www.engineersweek.ie.

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