The Engineering Employers' Federation said that skill shortages were an urgent problem. Rolls- Royce, another large engineering employer, said there was a general skill shortage, although it had filled its graduate quota. Rolls will soon recruit internationally to reflect its expanding international operations.

Engineering's failure to attract students has been attributed to poor pay and long-term prospects, given the decline in British manufacturing. BAe would not reveal how much it pays graduates, but Lucas Variety, a large engineering employer, paid a starting salary of ~ 14,200 last year. That compares with an average graduate starting salary of ~ 15, 300, according to Income Data Services.

British universities have found it increasingly difficult to recruit well-qualified undergraduates. Even Oxford and Cambridge fail to meet their quotas in many engineering subjects.

Alan Smithers, whose Centre for Education and Employment Research, at Bmnel University, produced a report on the supply of science and engineering graduates early this year, said that the discipline had been over expanded. "There is now a lack of quality to withstand competition in an increasingly international sphere. Companies go where they can find the best candidates."

Engineering docs not enjoy the high status in Britain that it occupies in other parts of the world. Courses in other parts of Europe and the Far East command among the highest entry requirements of all degree subjects and take five years, rather than the norm of three in Britain.

1. British Aerospace is recruiting engineers on the Continent __

(A) as the pay for them can be much lower

(B) as there are not enough well, qualified candidates at home

(C) to compete with France, Germany and other European countries

(D) to set up a university of its own

2. In the passage, the expression "to follow suit" in the sentence "Other engineering employers are expected to follow suit" (para. 4) can best be paraphrased as __

(A) to join BAe in its recruiting scheme

(B) to take the unanimous action

(C) to recruit graduates overseas

(D) to establish universities

3. Which of the following is NOT the reason that engineering courses fail to attract British students?

(A) The decline of British manufacturing industry.

(B) The recruitment of engineers abroad.

(C) The lower pay for engineering graduates.

(D) The long and slow process of success and promotion after graduation.

4. "Oxford" and "Cambridge" are mentioned in the passage to show that __

(A) they are the world famous universities

(B) they are not cooperating with British Aerospace

(C) they are reforming the engineering education

(D) they can not fulfil their recruitment quotas in engineering