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.”

· With increased pressure on businesses to be flexible, resilient, increase efficiency and to meet sustainability goals there is an unprecedented need for new skills in the workforce.

· In order to thrive during periods of change WMG has launched the Skills Centre, offering an ever changing and growing range of courses to meet current and future industry and business needs.

· The Centre is launching with seven new courses in innovative technologies ranging from energy systems, intelligent vehicles, digital and manufacturing.

The WMG Skills Centre launched today, the 17th January. The Centre provides the opportunity for businesses to respond to challenges through a range of innovative short courses which will equip workforces with the latest technical skills.

Over the last five years businesses and organisations across the UK have faced many challenges, from Brexit to Covid, with the next milestone being the urgent requirement to respond to the need to achieve Net Zero. The WMG Skills Centre will support businesses enabling them to survive and thrive through these and future challenges.

A Government white paper released in 2021 ‘Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth’, saw the then Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson CBE MP stating that we (the UK) do not have enough technicians, engineers or health and social care professionals. Redressing this will be critical to improving our productivity and international competitiveness.

WMG, at the University of Warwick, is a leader for bridging the gap between academia and industry, driving innovation in science, technology, engineering and skills. The WMG Skills Centre is launching with courses covering Digital Manufacturing, Energy Systems, Intelligent Vehicles and Manufacturing. Over the course of 2022 further courses will be added to support the ever-changing skills needs of business and industry.

All of the courses range from half-day workshops to five-day courses providing short, sharp, interventions to support skills growth. The first courses to be launched are Data-Driven Smart Manufacturing, Demystifying Digital Twins, Electric Drivetrain School, Intelligent Connected Automated Mobility (ICAM) School, Industry 4.0 Integration and Implementation, Manufacturing Awareness and Battery School.

Margot James, Executive Chair of WMG, University of Warwick comments:
“WMG has worked tirelessly over the last 40 years to bridge the gap between research and industry, preparing our students from our academies, degree apprenticeships and post-graduate courses to be equipped with the skills to improve Britain’s workforce.

“I am therefore delighted to see that we can continue to help businesses improve their skills, by offering courses at the new WMG Skills Centre, so that everyone can access the knowledge they need to succeed, and help our industry partners, region and country to create a digital and sustainable economy of the future.”

Dr Benjamin Silverstone, Associate Professor, Head of WMG Skills Centre adds:

“Change for business has never been more rapid and the need to adapt and evolve to meet current and future needs is critical to ensure survival. The courses offered by the WMG Skills Centre build on our strong history of delivering skills innovation to industry and will up-skill, re-skill and new-skill workforces across the country to ensure that they are resilient and able to thrive. “

Although the WMG Skills Centre is new, it has been created based on the success of courses that have previously been run by WMG, such as The Battery School. Dr Graham Hoare, President of Global Operations at Britishvolt who attended the course in 2021 said:

“I have worked in the powertrain divisions of blue-chip car companies such as Ford, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover in the past. The course here at WMG effectively allows people like me, who have got good mechanical experience, to really understand and appreciate battery technology and enable us to lead teams of battery scientists in the future. The two days on the Battery School course were fundamental to my understanding about battery technology and really equipped me to be able to jump into this important world very efficiently.

“Batteries are at the heart of this industrial transformation, so being here, at WMG and learning and seeing with my own eyes how that can be applied really was transformational. I feel so much more equipped for the challenge ahead.”

You can find out more about the new WMG Skills Centre by visiting: WMG Skills Centre

ENDS

17 JANUARY 2022

NOTES TO EDITORS

High-res images available at:

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/january_2022/wmg_skills_centre_1.jpg
Caption: People on a course at WMG
Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/january_2022/wmg_skills_centre_2.jpg
Caption: People on a course at WMG
Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/january_2022/wmg_skills_centre_3.jpg
Caption: People on a course at WMG
Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

https://youtu.be/4_i1UJbwQGs
Caption: Video: WMG Skills Centre - a solution for national skills gaps | Message by Margot James
Credit: WMG, University of Warwick

For further information please contact:

Alice Scott
Media Relations Manager – Science
University of Warwick
Tel: +44 (0) 7920 531 221
E-mail: alice.j.scott@warwick.ac.uk