Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced that the proposed Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) Academy for Young Engineers has been approved under the government’s academies programme. This gives the green light for the creation of a state-of-the-art new school close to campus. The school will be designed to provide young people who have an interest in engineering with a better way of learning and realising their ambitions, and will deliver a richer array of educational and employment opportunities to young people and to the local economy.

A unique programme of study

As a dynamic, business-led and progressive institution the WMG Academy for Young Engineers will be designed to take a transformational approach to nurturing successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and sought after employees. The new school will deliver the national curriculum, but will adopt a unique approach to the task, focusing its expertise on a range of engineering-based disciplines. Following a unique programme of study designed with input and expertise from major employers such as Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid and SCC, and smaller businesses such as King Automotive Systems and Automotive Insulations, pupils will be able to take a problem-solving, practical approach to learning, approaching key subject areas via their application to real-world problems.

A richer array of educational and employment opportunities

Backed by over 40 local institutions including The University of Warwick, Jaguar Land Rover, National Grid, SCC, King Automotive Systems, Automotive Insulation and around 40 other businesses, schools and business organisations, the WMG Academy for Young Engineers will offer places to 640 students aged 14-19 years from the Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull areas and is scheduled to begin teaching in September 2014.

Professor Lord Bhattacharyya, Chairman, WMG said:

Sustaining our manufacturing excellence will determine whether or not the UK can compete in the global market place over the next 50 years and beyond. In order to stay ahead of our competitors we need to create jobs and put more value back in engineering and manufacturing. We have some of the best companies and supply chains in our local area, and they all desperately need new talent and skills to help them grow. That is why the WMG Academy for Young Engineers at the University of Warwick is so important. It will reach a younger generation, engaging them in an innovative new learning environment and exciting them from cradle to grave about the opportunities in engineering and the creation of the high value products of tomorrow.”

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Thrift, added:

The WMG Academy for Young Engineers at the University of Warwick will provide an innovative new education opportunity for young people in Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull. The University of Warwick provides high-tech support to the many international companies and small and medium sized companies in our region and this initiative will help us to share some of the excitement and intellectual challenge of that high technology knowledge transfer with our region’s young people.”

Further information

For more information visit the WMG Academy for Young Engineers website.