A deficit of 217,000 engineers by 2017

Article by Karan Bilimoria in today's Observer arguing (not very convincingly) that immigration is good for business (good for profits obviously, as Developing World migrants are cheaper to employ and are not aware of their employment rights). 

This article is then backed by a formal leader editorial saying how foolish it is to curb immigration by "students".

The leader blandly states that unless immigration is allowed the United Kingdom will have "a deficit of 217,000 engineers by 2017" (five years away!).  This is a shocking and astonishing statistic.  How, at a time of blighted lives and increasing hardship for young people, can this deficit be contemplated?  Presumably there are not enough school-leavers sufficiently educated to be able to fill university places in engineering and then go on to fill the thousands of postgraduate places that this statement implies.  Was there ever a more devastating indictment of the teaching profession and their dumbed-down ways, that they cannot enthuse and educate young people for lucrative and highly-skilled careers in engineering?  The teaching profession needs a bloody big boot up its collective backside.

Of course, a contributing factor may be that companies find it cheaper to employ overseas engineering graduates than train their own.  The answer is for a complete halt to the importation of engineering graduates.  British companies will then have to fund the training of British graduates or do without.