Graduates Not Doomed If They Study Engineering, Says James Dyson

He was responding to an Economist article on how things are getting bleak for them

- Irene Tham

Today's graduates are not doomed if they study engineering, despite a poor job market.

This belief has long been held by British inventor James Dyson, 78, who has been thinking of bringing to Singapore his company's degree apprenticeship programme in engineering, where undergraduates earn a salary and pay no fees.

"A country's wealth is established by engineers and scientists," the British inventor and billionaire entrepreneur told The Sunday Times in a rare one-on-one interview on June 30 at the former St James Power Station, now the global headquarters of Dyson, the consumer electronics company he founded.

In response to a June 16 article in The Economist titled "Why today's graduates are screwed", he said: "I don't think that applies to engineers and scientists."

Citing the US Bureau of Labour Statistics and employment data in the European Union and Britain, the article said that employers have trimmed jobs in graduate-friendly industries, and that graduates are losing their wage premiums.

Mr Dyson is stubbornly optimistic that engineering, design and science students will hold up well, saying that artificial intelligence (AI) can never replace the human brain for creativity.

"AI can pretend to be creative by combining things, but I don't think it can ever truly be creative and do something different and unexpected," he said.

Gesturing towards the Dyson PencilVac, its latest slim cordless vacuum cleaner, and the firm's range of slim hairdryers in the interview room, Mr Dyson said that AI did not create these products.

During the hour-long interview, he also spoke passionately about original ideas, experimentation and creativity, as well as changes that need to be made to what and how students study.

These concepts are key to survival in a world disrupted by AI, experts say.