A HIGH-FLYING Bromsgrove student is jetting off to France this summer as part of a new drive to attract more girl graduates into the male dominated world of engineering.

Laura Smith, a sixth former at Bromsgrove School, is flying out to France and helping to spearhead a new initiative by EMTA - the national training organisation for the 1.75m strong engineering industry.

She will spend an all-expenses paid week at a French language school near Lyon, where she and 19 other students will be given an insight into the scope and international nature of the profession. EMTA's careers information advisor, Angela Townsend, points out that women account for only five per cent of professional engineers working in British industry.

"We want to change all that. Not enough bright female A level students are coming into the industry."