Swansea University are pleased to announce the formation of an Engineering Outreach Hub in the East Midlands in partnership with Oundle School beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.
The aims of the partnership include the provision of engineering opportunities for school children from across the region to inspire the next generation of young engineers through visits to local schools, hands-on workshops, Women in Engineering events and developing links with local industry to support access to engineering expertise in this region. ‘We, at Swansea, are delighted to be launching this new partnership with Oundle School. The East Midlands Outreach Hub will give us the platform to take some our world leading engineering research and make it accessible to young people in order to inspire a new generation of engineers. We look forward to working closely with Oundle School to open up more opportunities for young people across the region to engage with engineering.’ Prof Ben Evans, Head of Aerospace Engineering, Swansea University.
Oundle School already works alongside several state sector schools as part of the Oundle, Peterborough and East Northants (OPEN) Learning Partnership which provides academic opportunity for over 12,000 pupils each year. As one of the UK’s leading co-educational boarding schools with world-class facilities, the Patrick Engineering Centre is one of the UK’s best equipped including state of the art machining and CNC machining technologies, the most advanced set of rapid prototyping machines in any school in the world. This features Direct Metal Printing, Polyjet 3D printing, UV Resin Technologies, Siemens controlled 5-axis CNC Milling, composite fabrication equipment, materials testing equipment and commercial grade 3D scanning.
‘We are delighted to have this investment of expertise from Swansea as part of the ever-increasing range of opportunities we seek to offer to the young people in the East Northants area. The up-to-date knowledge of low carbon technology, manufacturing techniques and many other fields of research at the Swansea Engineering Faculty will add a great deal to what we can offer interested pupils in nearby schools and inspire them on their journey.’ Gordon Montgomery, Deputy Head Partnerships and Outreach, Oundle School