THE SHORTAGE of engineers threatens the UK’s economic success.

That was the stark warning by Professor Chris Taylor, president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers when he visited Medway.

But Prof Taylor, also vice-chancellor of the University of Bradford, was impressed by many hopeful signs in Medway.

The achievements of the University of Greenwich School of Engineering at Chatham Maritime were a real "eye-opener", he said.

He also paid tribute to the skills he saw at Delphi Diesel Systems in Gillingham, and BAE Systems in Rochester, both hi-tech firms at the cutting edge of engineering.

Prof Taylor, a Yorkshireman, admitted that it was increasingly difficult to convince young people that engineering was a great career.

He had always found it "tremendously exciting”. When he was younger, there had been many things to inspire would-be engineers -- the BRM racing car, nuclear power and jet aircraft, for example.

"I found it enormously stimulating," he said. "Now what is happening in science, engineering and technology is far more impressive and intellectually stimulating than it was 40 years ago, yet we have not been able to transmit to young men and women that excitement, that enthusiasm."

He went on: "It is a threat to the UK because if we do not have the engineering base, 20 or 30 years down the line, it will mean the only way to get things done will be to buy internationally. This is an enormous challenge to the UK."

University chiefs showed Prof Taylor around the engineering school, which now has 1,100 students from all over the world.

"I believe engineering is a very good discipline for the UK and it's a good training for men and women who move on to management.,” he said. “To see what the University of Greenwich is doing is exemplary."

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was founded 157 years ago and now has some 80,000 members worldwide.

Prof Taylor is following in the footsteps of George Stephenson, the father of railways, and the Institution's first president. "It's just a wondrous privilege for a little lad from Yorkshire," Prof Taylor said.

He also met industry and military chiefs in the Officer's Mess at the Royal School of Military Engineering, Brompton Barracks.