In the A-level results that came out Thursday, maths and physics, the usual pre-requisites for engineering degrees, received a timely boost after last month’s Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) report concluded that only 56% of engineering companies believed they would be able to recruit enough people into the industry this year.

“The most important thing is that it is not a fall,” professor Matthew Harrison, director of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s (RAE) education programme told builderandengineer.co.uk. “Year after year we’ve had a drop in physics and for the first time in years we haven’t had that fall. And that’s fantastic.”

Harrison partly attributed the rise in popularity this year by more girls choosing physics.

He said: “It has taken a lot of work to see more women choose physics. But the results show that one of the reasons the decline has been stemmed this year is that more girls are taking it and that’s not chance, that’s a lot of organisations working together to make that happen. The number of girls taking A-level physics is still a minority, but it’s a growing minority, which is fantastic.”