Help bring surveying to the next generation
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02 March 2020
The Inspire Workshops are now in their third year. These interactive 2-hour sessions for year 9/10 students engage over 6,000 annually – showcasing surveying as a career as well as meeting the Gatsby benchmarks.
Inspire is our flagship programme of promoting the surveying profession to students with an exciting series of workshops in partnership with a UK education communications and marketing company.
Do we really need to inspire the next generation?
There is a skills gap threatening the future of the profession. In our recent RICS Construction and Infrastructure Market Survey, 66% of respondents in the UK reported shortages of quantity surveyors and 54% say that they are seeing shortages of other construction professionals. And with approximately 30% of the surveying profession aged over 50, it is imperative that we attract and retain the best talent.
In addition to the need for more surveyors, to be a profession reflective of 21st-century society we need to attract young people from a more diverse range of backgrounds. In order to make sure we engage with a mix of young people, we are targeting schools in a range of geographical areas and looking at the percentage of free school meals offered. Areas we are particularly looking at include Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Suffolk, Surrey and Greater London.
Why are we running workshops in schools?
Inspire workshops have been developed from research which shows that school students do not engage with organisations but with activities which motivate and interest them – primarily in a non-academic format. They have little appreciation of the need to proactively engage in person but want to gain understanding by undertaking small interactive experiences with their peers.
Using RICS’ insight about the profession and its desire to promote the vast number of career opportunities available to students. Inspire workshops gets students to form small teams, where they complete project-based tasks and challenges designed to provide a “taster” of the numerous careers within the industry, reflecting aspects of surveying and project management and the skills needed.
These workshops are run by specialist educational facilitators but RICS needs professionals to be Inspire Ambassadors, sharing their real-life experiences and industry knowledge to really bring the workshops to life.
Inspiring the next generation: UK Schools workshops highlights
View highlights from our UK Inspire workshops, designed to encourage young talent onto work placements and eventually into a career in surveying.
Get involved and make a difference to the future of the profession
RICS surveyors have worked tirelessly over the years to champion the profession and we would like to harness this enthusiasm by making you central to our efforts to inspire young people.
The success of the Inspire workshops and our future ambitions is down to having a wide pool of involvement and input from RICS professionals, trainees and apprentices as Inspire Ambassadors, to give real life examples and act as role models for the younger generations to look up to.
Inspire Ambassadors will receive STEM training, be able to count volunteering as informal CPD and be able to take part in all Future Talent activities including careers shows, university visits, debating competitions and a number of other opportunities.
