Industry Outreach
Building a community of outreach with industry
At WMG Outreach we share our passion about engineering, science, and technology, working collaboratively to support young people, building a more inclusive future and become the next generation of global innovators and leaders.
Only 26% of UK manufacturing employees are women
(HVM Catapult 2025 Annual Report)
76% of employers struggle to recruit for key roles in engineering
(UK Engineering and Technology Skills Stats 2025, IET)
1 in 5 16鈥憏ear鈥憃lds are not studying towards substantial qualifications in 2024
(Education Policy Institute 2025 Annual Report)
鈥淚t is really important for us to involve ourselves in Outreach initiatives so we can help foster and develop the skills we need to build our growing workforce.鈥�
Dr Guy Lawrence, Composite Braiding
Challenges for industry
- Safeguarding considerations when working with under 18
- Health and safety considerations in the workplace
- Staff availability and confidence to supervise work placements or deliver outreach
- Understanding of what is required by the schools and by the government
Challenges for schools
- Gatsby Benchmarks have become more demanding and more complex
- Time allowed out of the school curriculum is dependent on multiple factors (staff availability, attendance benchmarks, transport considerations)
- Students鈥� understanding of engineering 鈥� e.g. not just car mechanic
Our model of outreach
We bring together industry and academia to provide targeted young people who are under represented in the sector hands-on and authentic experiences of engineering and a clear progression pathways to engineering careers.
Industry DayLink opens in a new window
An innovative type of career fair encouraging deeper conversations and sustained engagement with over 14 industry partners from local companies.
Work ExperienceLink opens in a new window
A week long immersive work experience where students work in small teams to complete research engineering projects with the support of the staff and industry partners.
For the Year 10 participants in 2025, STEM A-level interest increased from 73% to 83% and STEM career interest increased from 55 to 63%
Industry partners collaborate to deliver one of the project together.
Mentoring
Students who attended the Industry Day or the Work Experience week can take part in a mentoring programme where they get paired with a mentor who is one of the industry partner who supported the Industry Day or Work Experience.
Students get an opportunity to have the time and space to interact individually with a range of industry partners to ask questions and reflect on their study path and career journey.
Industry partners support a workshop in school and respond to letters from their mentees.
Industry partners' roles:
- Bring real engineering stories and people
- Offer hands-on activities or problem challenges
- Share up-to-date skills needs and sector insights
- Co-design workshops with us
- Provide early鈥慶areer engineers as relatable role models
- Support existing outreach offer with local schools
How we support you:
- We provide training to deliver outreach
- We provide a safe and controlled space for the activity
- We organise the event, select the young people, carry out the risk assessments, take charge of the health and safety and safeguarding aspects
- We support the delivery and are present at those events.
- We create promotional material (news piece and posts) to give visibility to industries.
- We champion our approach at a national level and influence policy makers
How to take part
if you are interested to receive our support to deliver outreach you can :
Visit our websiteLink opens in a new window
Contact us at
Sign up as an outreach volunteer Link opens in a new window