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The fact that fewer young people are electing to study engineering at degree level probably isn't news to regular readers of this magazine. We all know that the problems of finding newly qualified staff have dogged the building services industry in particular for several years.

Yet there is a new type of building services engineer emerging. More mature, and perhaps with years of work experience already on their cvs, this engineer has a lot to offer. What's behind this new development?

Many leading universities have closed down undergraduate courses in building services, due to dwindling numbers of applicants. By contrast, however, postgraduate courses in the subject seem to be doing very well.

Petra Godwin, lecturer in the department of mechanical engineering at Brunel University comments: "Take up of building services courses at undergraduate level is low, but we are doing very well with our MSc courses in building services. The building services and management course had been particularly successful."

There is a similar story at South Bank University. "The MSc building services course appears to have a record number of applications and the redesigned MSc environmental and architectural acoustics has risen from a doubtful future to one that is looking very exciting," says course director Tim Dwyer.

Richard Lyons, programme director of the MSc in building services engineering at Loughborough University adds: "It's not news that our BEng in building services engineering is closing down, as it has been for some time. Our numbers over the last three to four years have been in single figures."

In response to the falling number of students, Loughborough researched what the building services industry required in terms of graduates. The Loughborough MSc conversion course was the result.

The Loughborough course is also interesting because of its close links with building services consultancies and contractors. Businesses supporting the course include Ove Arup, Oscar Faber, McAlpine, Balfour Beatty, Amec and Drake & Scull, among others. "The current first year of the MSc is largely made up of mechanical engineering graduates who have been sponsored by employers to take this as a conversion course," says Lyons.

In response to falling numbers of building services graduates, leading companies have forged ahead with their own training schemes. Oscar Faber is one of these. Its GATE graduate training scheme currently has 230 young engineers working through the four year programme.

Anthony Wilson, director of advanced technology at Oscar Faber says: "We find sixth formers who are going to get excellent grades and will sponsor them in their first degree. This could be mechanical engineering, or even aeronautical engineering. We can then give them training during this first degree. They come and work with us during vacations. We can give them a grounding in building services by the time they have finished their degree."

The Oscar Faber GATE scheme is very advanced. But the idea that it's best to seek out future employees at the very start of their academic career is important. "If you can get people at 15 or 16 that's great. No one knows about building services engineering, so no one is going to want to go into it. You need to get them excited about it," says Wilson.

There certainly seems to be a new type of building services engineer emerging from these courses. They're probably originally qualified in another type of engineering, or possibly even mathematics or physics. And it's likely that they have a job to go to at the end of the course. This type of student tends to work while studying in modules. The Loughborough course, for example, has been designed with this kind of student in mind – if a sponsored graduate needs to work abroad for example, he or she can stop studying and pick up again on their return to the UK.

The other type of student drawn to the MSc is the more mature candidate. Petra Godwin says: "The Brunel MSc courses attract older people, often by distance learning while they are working. They usually have some sort of engineering background. They are very dedicated because they have a real interest in driving their career. Our building services and management course has been a real success as it really caters for those aiming to improve their management skills as well."

So existing engineers are becoming more highly trained. But we need to attract more new people into the industry. It's not easy. One of the main stumbling blocks is salary.

Richard Lyons says: "Good mechanical engineering graduates can earn about £25 000 in their first job, sometimes receiving a golden handshake of £6000 with and extra £4000 if they stay for a year. It's very difficult to compete with that in the building services sector."

CIBSE is looking into ways to attract more engineers, and at possible changes to accredited courses in order to include the new style building services engineers, such as those with first degrees in other subjects and an MSc in services. But the industry has to work together – consultants, contractors, maybe even manufacturers. It is a vital investment from which all will benefit.