EDUCATION
Driving force – manufacturing engineering student Luke Jackman ( left ) and his mentor Chris Richardson , maintenance manager with Pirelli Tyres UK , attended the final project presentation day at the University of Sunderland .
PICTURES : DAVID WOOD WORDS : GRAEME ANDERSON
SKILLS
DRIVE
Apprentices and education meet at University of Sunderland to the benefit of businesses
A
pioneering and innovative University of Sunderland degree course that combines apprenticeships with education has been actively helping the region ’ s manufacturing sector deal with a well-documented skills crisis .
The BEng degree apprenticeship in Manufacturing and Electrical Engineering is funded through the Apprenticeship Levy , a government-funded initiative to encourage employers to upskill their workforces .
And a recent exhibition at the University of Sunderland offered the perfect platform for showcasing progress , all under one roof .
Held at the Reg Vardy Centre , visitors and employers were able to see dozens of projects that third-year students had developed for their employers while on the course .
Michael Douglas , programme lead for engineering , is rightly proud of the achievements of his students .
One student ’ s project is set to save his company £ 1.8m and there are many examples of companies improving efficiency , cutting energy costs and redesigning production processes , all to the benefit of their employees .
Michael explained : “ All of our assignments are work-based so it ’ s totally different to most degrees .
“ The student will do a bit of theory in the classroom and then start working on a practical assignment , so they ’ re learning and working at the same time .
“ People can get direct entry into the course depending on skills and previous qualifications , so we have plenty of mature
12 students as well as young employees who are upskilling in a major way while still spending most of their time on their full-time job .
“ It ’ s a hands-on approach which sees one day spent at the university and then the application of that learning into the workplace .
“ It ’ s a very practical way of delivering a more skilled workforce without having to take them out of the workplace for years at a time .
“ The course was launched in 2015 and student recruitment continues to grow , with all the big companies in the North-East buying into it .
One company which has benefitted is Caterpillar ’ s giant factory at Peterlee , where 38-year-old Craig Houghton works as a quality engineer .
Craig was the student who saved the company £ 1.8m with a project involving reworking all the stock machines to improve axles .
He said : “ I ’ d been 22 years out of education , so this was quite a big leap for me and they were brilliant in supporting me .
“ A lot of the course was hit by Covid-19 and much of the work had to be done on Teams . but they worked hard to make sure the students didn ’ t suffer too much because of that .”
Anyone who wants to know more about this course and similar opportunities at the University of Sunderland should go to sunderland . ac . uk / apprenticeships or ring ( 0191 ) 515 3361 .
Guide – Michael Douglas , a senior lecturer in engineering at the University of Sunderland .
Unlike Craig , his fellow student , 23-yearold Jordan McCarthy , has remained in the learning process throughout her working life , building up her qualifications to the point where she was able to take the University of Sunderland degree .
A worker at TT Electronics in Bedlington , Northumberland , she said : “ It has been a good experience and being able to learn important new skills and be encouraged to put them into practice at the factory is great . “ It was important to me to stay in fulltime work - so being able to do that but also get a degree at the same time , which would further my career , is a case of getting the best of both worlds .”
Meanwhile , Luke Jackman , of Pirelli Tyres in Carlisle , was prepared to cross the Pennines to improve his skills while retaining the day job .
Another of the course ’ s success stories , he has been studying energy efficiency in the manufacturing process and the plan he designed has now been implemented by Pirelli .
Luke has been supported throughout his degree by workplace mentor Chris Richardson , who said : “ The course is great – practical and efficient – and we ’ ve got nothing like this in Cumbria so were happy to work with the University of Sunderland .”