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Successful Higher Education Technicians Summit

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.

Congratulations to Robb Johnston (Physics) for winning the Contribution to Infrastructure award, given to technical staff who look after building facilities or staff that provide key services to support day to day laboratory/workshop activities and the Warwick University Satellite Team who were joint winners for the Contribution to Teaching award.

The inaugural Papin Prizes awards were made by Professor Lord Bhattacharyya to individual technicians across the Midlands region who have demonstrated excellence in their field. The awards covered contributions to teaching, research, infrastructure; facility and equipment management; leadership; working with business; newcomer and lifetime achievement.

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.

There is an ever increasing demand for new engineering workers. Through the WMG Academy for Young Engineers and our Bachelor of Engineering degree we are helping to train future and current engineers to see that this is an attractive career choice.”

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