A UK-wide competition was launched this week to encourage school-leavers to consider a career in transport planning. Transport planning specialist, MVA Consultancy, launched the essay-writing competition, which asks students to discuss the development of future, sustainable transport. The competition aims to help address the skills shortage in transport planning and engineering. The winning graduate will have their university fees paid in full for a transport-related undergraduate degree. Schools and colleges across the country are being asked to actively encourage sixth form pupils to participate in the competition, the theme of which is Reducing the impact of transport on the environment. Launching the competition, shadow transport secretary, Theresa Villiers , said: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to attract more of our top talent into the industry, in order to develop an efficient and innovative transport system for the future. ‘I welcome the topical theme of the competition, and hope this encourages entrants to think about climate change, which is a major challenge.’