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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: The man who brought the world the bagless vacuum cleaner sees a crisis for Britain. James Dyson thinks a shortage of engineers is putting the nation’s economy in jeopardy. From London, Stephen Beard says Dyson is planning to create an engineering college in the UK

STEPHEN BEARD: Without more engineers the British economy could in the long term fall apart, says Dyson. His new college aims to teach engineering to 2,500 14 to 18 year olds.

Dyson laments the fact that in the land of Brunel and Stephenson, media studies and psychology are vastly more popular subjects than engineering.

He fears that Britain is in danger of falling way behind the fast-industrializing nations of the east:

JAMES DYSON: China, for example, is producing 15 times more engineers than we are producing in Britain. And I think it is very important that we excite young children to become engineers, so that we can go on to establish big businesses and profit-earning things for this country.

His own engineering skills have generated a very big business. His bagless vacuum cleaner has generated global sales worth $5.5 billion.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.