Inspiring the next generation

20th Jun 2023

Working with Birmingham Metropolitan College to inspire new engineers

We recently attended a jobs fair at the local college, the James Watt campus of Birmingham Metropolitan College, invited as we are a local SME and have employed apprentices through the college before.

We talked to many of the attendees, and found the event worthwhile. One thing which was clear was that the students and lecturers involved in the engineering facility had little or no experience of what a modern facility was like, and had not engaged with time served engineers to learn from their experience.

After a few conversations with the college we worked out how we could open up the factory in Witton to allow a decent quantity of students to come in and talk to our team, and see the kinds of machines we use at Rowan to produce complex precision components.

Feedback from the college is as follows;

“Hello, Thank you for letting us come.

The learners really enjoyed it. they loved that they could see things actually being done in the work place and could see how what we are doing in college is linked to what you are doing in the work place and understand the relevance of their training.

The really liked seeing the machinery work and exactly what engineers do for a living. Also confirming that they are on the right program at college. The joked when they left that those that never went “will be gutted they missed out”.

They said to thank you and that they all had a really good time

You have really helped them to understand what they want to do in the future.

The visit was most appreciated”