Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) grants £1.1m to WMG Academy for Young Engineer

Coventry, UK, 10-11-2015 — /EuropaWire/ — Just as building work on a second WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Chelmsley Wood, Solihull enters an exciting new phase; a £1.1m grant has been confirmed from Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) towards state of the art, industry standard engineering and IT equipment.

The Academy building work, which began in September this year, is well underway and on schedule for completion in July 2016.

This latest phase was commemorated with the signing of steel which will be used in the build and prominently displayed. The steel was signed by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG; Counsellor Bob Sleigh, Leader of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council; Professor Sir Nigel Thrift, Vice Chancellor of the University of Warwick; Professor Stuart Croft, Provost of the University of Warwick; John Leighfield, Chair of WMG Academy Trust; Michael Carr, Director of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP; Stuart Baker from Rolls-Royce; Helen McLintock from Jaguar Land Rover as well as Caroline Spelman, MP and Julian Knight, MP.

Also at the signing, Stuart Baker from Rolls-Royce was formally appointed as the Chair of Governors for the WMG Academy for Young Engineers Solihull.

The new engineering and IT equipment funded by the LEP grant will further enhance learning opportunities for students at the Academy. The WMG Academy Solihull will work closely with the WMG Academy for Young Engineers Coventry. Students at both Academies follow a curriculum that is based around real life projects that have been designed by employers to reflect the types of problems and challenges they face. The projects provide every student with access to high value manufacturing, engineering, design and academic experiences that will lead to a diverse range of opportunities – either into employment or on to further or higher education.

Executive Principal, Kate Tague said,

“As the Executive Principal for the WMG Academy Trust, and on behalf of the Trust, I am delighted to be leading both academies. This new academy will create hundreds of new opportunities for young engineers to learn from industry leaders, furthering the future of engineering in this country. This funding will help to ensure our young engineers are given the tools and equipment to succeed.”

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman, WMG said,

“Our new Academy in Solihull will build on the success of our Coventry Academy where we already have 400 young students studying engineering. It is a remarkable partnership between companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls Royce and Arup, Solihull Council, WMG, the University of Warwick and the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP. The generous support of the LEP will allow our students to have access to industry standard engineering and IT equipment, helping them make a seamless transition into exciting careers in industry.”

Andy Street, Chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership, said,

“We are delighted to be supporting the WMG Academy for Young Engineers as they expand into the Greater Birmingham and Solihull area. This project was supported strongly by our Employment and Skills Board and our investment will help to further develop the close working relationships that the Academy will forge with local and national employers.

The new WMG Academy is currently taking applications for the first cohort of students to start in September 2016. Visit: http://www.wmgacademysolihull.org.uk/

Alex Buxton
Communications Manager
Tel: 02476 150423
Mob: 07876 218166
a.buxton.1@warwick.ac.uk

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