At the end of Dickens' Great Expectations poor, abused Estella, tells Pip, whose great expectations were themselves destroyed, that she has been 'bent and broken '. Since the collapse of Lehman's our economy has felt the clammy chill of that sentiment. But Estelle goes on to say: "... but - I hope - into better shape."
It would be the cowardice in the face of adversity not to ensure that we collectively work together to put in place the conditions for a better-shaped economy.
So, about eighteen months ago, the Council for Industry and Higher Education assembled senior industrialists and academics, led by Nigel Thrift, Vice Chancellor of the University of Warwick, and Richard Greenhalgh, former Chair of Unilever UK, to propose ways in which businesses and universities could together develop growth strategies for manufacturing and engineering.
Great Expectations, their second report, explores three possible futures: Hard Times in which the UK spirals downwards through lack of innovation, leadership and talent development, particularly the inability to attract bright women; Lying Awake where international competition is fierce, but the UK at least holds its own through sustained innovative educational policy solutions, the re-branding of engineering and manufacturing as female-friendly and green problem solvers, and a deeper integration of business with schools through national mentoring schemes. And Great Expectations which will occur only if the UK is a magnet for industrial talent and investment, a crucible for advanced innovation, a hotbed of educational development that ensures that our graduates are world class and our system is producing the entrepreneurs and corporate strategic leaders for fast growing companies and global businesses.
Each of these worlds is plausible (scarily so in Hard Times), and we must as a matter of national importance address the challenge of reaching out to highly-talented women to enter or start engineering and manufacturing enterprises. Our specially commissioned survey of second and third year female undergraduates discovered that many regretted not taking the right qualifications to join green manufacturing businesses, and that they were not given the right guidance about salaries in such roles. And they were still put off by the perceived blokiness of the culture.
The Task Force will today launch a campaign to work with industry, schools and universities to inspire young women in particular to take up the challenge of the better shaped economy. Are we entitled to have Great Expectations? What other kinds are worth having?