Universities gearing up for Jaguar Land Rover collaborations
UNIVERSITIES in the West Midlands are gearing up to take advantage of potential new opportunities for working in collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover.
One of the clinching factors in the firm’s decision to locate its new engine plant at the i54 site in South Staffordshire is thought to be the 13 universities based within easy reach of the business park.
The firm has recently taken on its largest ever intake of graduates and needs a plentiful supply in the future to sustain its global growth strategy.
The University of Wolverhampton has welcomed the firm’s decision and is one of the first members of the academic community to declare it willingness to in partnership with the manufacturer.
Professor Ian Oakes, the university’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise, said the new plant was a great boost for the region and would provide many opportunities for business engagement.
“The university is in discussions with a number of organisations in relation to how we can support the JLR development,” he said.
“We are very excited about the potential for working with JLR and the opportunities it will create for the institution and our students and graduates.”
Professor Oakes said the university’s School of Technology (STech) had expert staff in engineering and manufacturing, with strong commercial backgrounds, who could work with JLR in a number of capacities.
Other collaborations could be through bespoke staff development programmes, possibly conducted in partnership with other academic bodies, while supply chain development programme are also a possibility, utilising the university’s strong record on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
Research and development projects incorporating a dedicated MPhil/ Ph.D programme are also being considered, with possible areas being manufacturing process improvement, new product development and new materials & testing.
The university has also collaborated with Wolverhampton City Council on the i54 project and the location of a Technology Innovation Centre on the business park at some point in the future could also offer new opportunities.
The university is also targeting other clusters which could opt to move to the site to take advantage o fits Enterprise Zone status.
In line with this, it is hoping to extend successful collaborations with aerospace companies such as HS-Marson, Goodrich, Timken and Moog. Moog is currently building a factory on i54.
