Serving the Teesside Business Community | 53
Middlesbrough College
engineers vital skills
The STEM Centre at Middlesbrough College.
F
uture engineers for Teesside and
further afield are building the skills
they need for a range of industries, at
Middlesbrough College.
Students from across the North are
coming to the college to benefit from
industry-leading facilities and tutors who
are helping them gain the qualifications
they need to excel in the likes of the
NHS, process industries and automotive
manufacturing.
Dan Still is curriculum team leader for
Access to HE and HE Programmes in
Engineering and has seen hundreds of
students progress into roles with blue chip
companies on Teesside, across the country
and overseas.
He explained: “Students come to us
from across the North of England, from as
far afield as Cumbria and Northumberland,
because of the quality of courses we provide.
“Our learners study either part-time or
full-time – many while working to support
their education or within a relevant industry
to build experience and knowledge alongside
the course.
“We work closely with a range of high-
profile employers – organisations such
as Nifco, PD Ports, NEPIC, ElringKlinger,
Labman, Northern Powergrid and
GlaxoSmithKline – to provide the skills they
need and to support learners into long-term
careers.”
Middlesbrough College offers HNC and
HND courses, awarded by Pearson, and
BEng Hons courses, awarded by the Open
University, to students – some school leavers
and others who are already working and
require new skills.
Typically students follow a three-year
trajectory – starting with a one year HNC
course, moving to HND and then finally on to
BEng Hons.
Some may even secure jobs within the
first HNC year.
Dan added: “Students leave
Middlesbrough College with qualifications
from internationally recognised awarding
bodies, having studied programmes that
equip them with all the vital components for
an engineering role.
“As well as classroom based theory
lessons, they spend time in our STEM Centre
where they are trained on real industry
equipment, such as programmable logic
controllers or PLCs, as they’re known in the
industry.
“These are the computer systems that
control equipment on manufacturing shop
floors and infrastructure across the world.
“Courses are shaped and directed by the
college’s STEM advisory board, made up
of companies across the region, meaning
lessons reflect real employer needs.”
With these strong employer links students
get the chance to follow a varied selection of
career paths. For example, Middlesbrough
college’s relationship with the NHS means
graduates can follow technical engineering or
medical engineering routes.
Dan Still, curriculum team leader for
Access to HE and HE programmes in
Engineering at Middlesbrough College.
“The courses give students
transferable skills.”
Recently, one of the college’s HNC
students spent time working in China thanks
to skills developed on Teesside.
Dan added: “It’s not just career starters
studying on our courses. We also help people
with non-engineering backgrounds who
may be working in business functions to get
knowledge and experience that helps them
fulfil their roles.
“The courses give students transferable
skills.”
Full-time courses at Middlesbrough
College include Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,
Manufacturing Engineering and Operations
Engineering (Instrumentation).
For more information call Course Information on 01642 333333 or email [email protected].