How accessible is the STEM post 16 education provision, the pipeline to computing and engineering programmes?

EngineeringUK (2018) are estimating UK has an engineering graduate-level shortfall of at least 22,000 per year, the Royal Academy is reporting that by 2024 the engineering shortfall in the UK will be 160,000. The UK Government the Science and Technology Committee in 2016 highlighted the UK Digital Skills Gap is costing UK economy £63Bn GDP. Sheffield Hallam University and Canterbury Christ Church University are working in their respective parts of the UK to address the shortfall in engineering and computing graduates for their local communities. Both institutions are proactive in widening access to HE. However, the MEng/BEng Engineering and BEng Software Engineering and BSc Computing programmes Level 3 entry requirements are less flexible for accredited programmes or programmes seeking accreditation by IET, IMechE and BCS. Therefore, such programmes have restricted STEM Level 3 and grade entry requirements. Therefore the question is can post 16 students in these regions access the appropriate Level 3 STEM education to ascertain the necessary entry requirements to MEng/BEng Engineering and BEng Software Engineering and BSc Computing programme provisions at Sheffield Hallam University and Canterbury Christ Church University. Research data analysis of the UK Government 2017 STEM A’level results for each of these region highlights within each of the region there is potential Level 3 pipeline to each institution, however also illustrates the disparity of access to STEM A’level provision across each region. Therefore, provides clear evidence and justification for each institution’s decision to provide extended computing and engineering degrees (Foundation year) to support widening access to engineering and computing degrees. However, the data does raise the question how wide spread is the lack of access to Level 3 STEM education in the UK and are ‘we’ the STEM education sector missing potential engineering and computing talent across the UK?