Strange World isn't it. Today (according to some) you have to have a degree to be called an Engineer. You don't have to be able to do the job, but you do have to have have a degree.
Then there was Orville and Wilbur, Stephenson, Brunell, well they didn't have degrees, but they did rather well inspite of that lacking in their 'education'.
I know of a person who has just obtained his EASA B1 Licence, he did 2 years at College doing his BTEC, a 4 year Apprenticeship and has worked, without any assistance from tutors etc for the past three years to pass his B1. An excellent achievement? You bet! I met him in the hangar the other day and asked him what he had been doing over the past few days. He had replaced a CF6 Engine and a number of flying controls. After installation he had carried out rigging and function checks. On top of that he had also done a complex skin repair. On top of that he is supervising a Team of Engineers and mentoring a number of less experienced staff. He is 23 years old. He has worked a sight harder than many university students to get where he is, he appreciates his position because he has worked so hard to get there. He is most certainly an Aircraft Engineer.
I have been in Civil Aviation for 35 years and have met one ex RAF Engineering Officer who has worked as a manager on the shop floor.
The only Degree holders apart from the Kingston graduates that I have met have not been hands on. Few of the Aircraft Maintenance Managers I have met have had a degree and many don't have an EASA Licence. On that basis, Civil Aviation industry Aircraft Maintenance in the UK is being run by a bunch of fitters.
Temps