Labour Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson MP visited the WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre at the University of Warwick today (Thursday 10^th February) to mark National Apprenticeship Week 2022.

Following a visit to the motorsport and advanced engineering group Prodrive earlier in the morning, where she met WMG degree apprentice Abi Holloway from the Applied Engineering Programme, Bridget Phillipson then visited the WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre with Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick and Professor Robin Clark, Dean of WMG and Director of Education.

The Shadow Education Secretary met with apprentices and staff for a tour of the Centre, including workshop demonstrations and live seminars before meeting local employers including Aston Martin, JLR, Royal Mail Group and Allett, as well as the Federation of Small Businesses.

Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:

“It was a pleasure to visit the WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre to mark National Apprenticeship Week, and to see how businesses and education providers are working together to equip young people with the skills our country needs to prosper.

“Labour is committed to working with educators and employers to ensure young people leave education ready for work and ready for life.

“As our national skills needs develop and change, I want young people and older workers wanting to reskill to be able to access high quality, local training programmes which lead to good jobs in all parts of the UK.”

The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership funded WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre offers a bespoke learning environment with open spaces for collaborative and individual work, technology-enabled seminar rooms and a purpose-built laboratory for mechanical, electrical and thermal experiments.

Professor Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Warwick said:

“It was a pleasure to welcome Bridget Phillipson MP to the University to share our approach to combining quality Higher Education and work-based learning. We have a responsibility to provide students with the environment they need to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to succeed while supporting business growth through their work. The WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre is a flagship example of how this can be achieved when strategic investment is combined with industrial and academic collaboration.”

The visit also comes just a few weeks after the launch of the WMG Skills Centre, including seven new courses in technologies such as energy systems, intelligent vehicles, and digital manufacturing to meet current and future industry needs.

Professor Robin Clark, Dean of WMG and Director of Education said:

“We were delighted to welcome the Labour Shadow Education Secretary to our WMG Degree Apprenticeship Centre during National Apprenticeship Week. The visit was a great opportunity to highlight the achievements of our apprentices and to discuss future opportunities in work-based education with a panel of influential local industry partners.”

Margot James, Executive Chair at WMG, added:

“It’s great that Bridget Phillipson MP was able to meet our incredible apprentices and industry partners. She heard from them that, with the Green Industrial Revolution and the road to Net Zero leading to emerging skills needs in areas like automation, electrification and robotics, it is vital UK businesses invest in their people to encourage new-skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling.”