‘Full house’ as students sign up for the UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’

More than 20 students are set to take part in a new approach for delivering industry-ready graduates it was announced today.

The Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering (AME), a £32million joint collaboration between Coventry University and Unipart Manufacturing, has exceeded the number of applications it had expected with interest coming from all over the country for its three-year BEng and four-year MEng courses.

Senior management at the UK’s first ‘Faculty on the Factory Floor’ said they have passed their first year target and believe it’s a further indicator of the sector’s growing popularity and the desire from undergraduates to participate in activity-led learning that gives them real-world manufacturing experience.

“This is a fantastic first response to what we are looking to achieve at AME and shows that we’ve certainly got the student world excited,” explained Wendy Garner, Associate Head of Mechanical, Automotive and Manufacturing at Coventry University.

“Our courses have been designed to meet industry’s need for graduates that can have an immediate impact on the shopfloor and also help to ensure our students gain skills that accelerate their own career paths.”

She continued: “External construction work on the new 1700 square metre manufacturing hub is nearly complete and this will provide the focus for a lot of the activity and will house more than £2m of robotics, CNC tube manipulation machinery, metrology equipment and simulation software.

“The undergraduates will be learning on cutting-edge technology, not to mention working with Unipart engineers who have years of experience. It’s a real win-win situation for them.”

Studying at AME will be split into two 16-week semesters per academic year, with students focusing on specific industry disciplines and then working in teams to apply what they have learned to commercial shopfloor projects.

Over the course of the three years this will include manufacturing processes and materials, quality and metrology, advanced manufacturing and automation, design and sustainability and strategic management.

In the final year, they will have the choice to specialise in lean systems and production control or engineering materials and manufacturing technology.

“At the end of the degree they should be ready to apply and enter into employment either at Unipart or within the manufacturing supply chain. For those interested, we will also be operating a Masters course, which takes a further year to complete and will be suited to students looking to become a technology leader,” continued Wendy.

Charlie Bond from Kenilworth is among the first undergraduates heading to AME after he completed a BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Engineering at Warwickshire College

The former Princethorpe College pupil is looking forward to putting the skills he has learned in the classroom to use on commercial manufacturing exercises and working on projects that could change the way powertrain systems are developed all over the world.

“I’ve always enjoyed making things and definitely want to try and make a career for myself in engineering and manufacturing.”

He went on to add: “I enjoy a more ‘hands-on’ approach to learning and this gives me the chance to use my practical skills in a number of different scenarios.

“The fact I can be part of a ‘UK first’ and will be learning from researchers, experienced lecturers and Unipart engineers were all major selling points, not to mention having access to the latest machines and technology.”

Charlie, who has just turned eighteen, concluded: “Studying at AME should also help me gain valuable shopfloor experience that a lot of other manufacturing and engineering graduates will only get after a year out.”

AME, which has received £7.9m of Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), is also recruiting for ten postgraduates as part of its first year of activity.