The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, visited WMG, at the University of Warwick, on Friday 20^th January 2017, taking up an invitation to see for himself the work underway to complete the new £150 million National Automotive Innovation Centre on the University Campus. He also saw the work expanding WMG’s Energy Innovation Centre which provides a one-stop-shop for the development of new battery chemistries to create advanced batteries for the automotive sector.

The National Automotive Innovation Centre is a unique automotive research centre, and the largest facility of its kind in Europe. It will provide high technology automotive manufacturing research that will be of significant benefit in the delivery of the key manufacturing component of the UK’s Industrial Strategy.

Today the Minister for the Constitution, Chris Skidmore, presented WMG, at the University of Warwick, with a Royal Warrant signed by Her Majesty the Queen, officially conferring her Majesty’s recognition with the title of the Regius Professor of Manufacturing (Engineering).

The title of Regius Professorship is a rare and prestigious award given by Her Majesty the Queen to recognise exceptionally high quality research at an institution. The University of Warwick was one of 12 universities honoured to mark Her Majesty’s 90th Birthday. Previous to this, only 14 had been granted since the reign of Queen Victoria. It is believed that the first Regius Professorship was conferred to Aberdeen University in 1497 by King James IV.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG, at the University of Warwick, and Hans Fischer, Chief Technical Officer of Tata Steel’s European operation, opened the new Tata Steel UK research centre, on Wednesday 28th of October, on the University of Warwick’s Science Park.

Engineers and researchers will be working on new steel coatings, including graphene, at the company’s new advanced coatings research laboratories. The opening marks the first phase of Tata Steel’s relocation of its UK R&D work to the University of Warwick campus.

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya said:

“We are delighted to welcome Tata Steel here to the University of Warwick. Advanced steels research is crucial for the nation, and for manufacturing, this move shows Tata Steel’s long term commitment to research and development within the UK.”

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG at the University of Warwick, was awarded the first ever National Rainbow Bridge Award at a ceremony at the China National Convention Centre on Sunday 25^th October in Beijing, China.

He was presented with the Award by Ms Zhang Rongming, the 10^th and 11^th Vice-Chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, in the presence of national leaders Mr Xu Bingjin, Mr Tao Xiping, Mr Qian Yicheng and Mr Sheng Jianxue at a special ceremony as part of the 2015 China Annual Conference for International Education.

WMG Chairman, and founder, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya kt, CBE, FREng, FRS joined Mr Ratan Tata GBE, Chairman Emeritus Tata Sons Ltd, to take the Oath of Freemen of the City of Coventry and sign the Roll of Honour during a ceremony at Coventry Cathedral on Friday 25th September 2015.

Honorary Freedom of the City is the highest award that Coventry can bestow upon a person and only 13 people have been given this award since 1914. Mo Mowlam was the last person to receive it in 1999.

The Lord Mayor, Councillor Michael Hammon, a Freeman himself, said the award was:

Recognising two people who have helped in the regeneration of the city is a way of celebrating all that is good about the city and its future.”

Apprentices are secret weapon in fight for productivity argues Professor Lord Bhattacharyya

Commenting in the Sunday Times (13 September), Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG, University of Warwick, says the neglect of technical education over the past decades means we lag our biggest competitors and success depends on understanding business needs.

He says "A highly skilled workforce is the key to creating virtuous circle where productivity improvement spurs increased investment which in turn drives productivity growth. The neglect of technical education over past decades means we lag our major competitors.

Unless skills training is given and funded by industry, it will be poorly targeted. We (WMG) succeed because we focus on understanding business needs, offering research and education that is both academically excellent and industrially relevant.

It is this vital role of the private sector in technical sector in technical education, which demonstrates the need for statutory apprenticeship levy, so that skill providers respond to business needs, not just government grants.

Professor Anthony Cheetham was awarded a prestigious Honorary Doctorate on Tuesday 14 July from WMG for his outstanding contribution to materials science.

Professor Cheetham is one of the world’s outstanding materials scientists and his sustained research output includes 600 journal publications achieving 30,000 citations. His exceptional academic creativity has led to ground-breaking innovations in materials chemistry that have formed the basis of global research efforts. He has combined this with a passionate commitment to science that culminated with his appointment as Treasurer and Vice President of The Royal Society, a fellowship of the world's most eminent scientists.

Government should use apprenticeship levy to support institutions that boost skills, argues Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya.

Chairman of WMG also says industry must demand programmes that are “built on real business need”

Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, Chairman of WMG at the University of Warwick, has called for a statutory apprenticeship levy to support technical education programmes to transform training and skills.

Speaking in a House of Lord’s debate on the most recent government budget, which includes a proposal for a statutory apprenticeship levy, Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said that he strongly supports the levy but cautioned that industry must be involved with its design and that “we should be challenging Universities, colleges and business to design technical education programmes together”.

The 2015 Higher Education Technicians Summit took place on 30 June and was attended by over 400 technical staff in UK higher education. The summit is hosted by the M5 Universities (Nottingham, Warwick, Birmingham, Loughborough, Aston and Leicester).

It is the largest event held specifically for UK HE technical staff with sessions focused on technical skills and education including the importance of technical skills in driving forward innovation, and current initiatives to ensure the future provision of technical education to young people. The UK skills shortage, employability and the importance of collaborative industry partnerships are also on the agenda.

Recognising the value of technicians Professor Lord Bhattacharyya said “I’m delighted that there’s a new energy about the role of technicians in HE, from professional registration of the science and engineering councils to a renewed focus on career development and outreach. At WMG I’ve made it a priority to encourage technicians to pursue further education, to support their career development, and for technicians to be ambassadors for engineering.” Commenting on the skills shortage he said “There is an ever increasing demand for new engineering workers. Through the WMG Academy for Young Engineers and our Batchelor of Engineering degree we are helping to train future and current engineers to see that this is an attractive career choice.”