The Next Engineers programme, launched by the GE Foundation, has opened applications for its free, one-week long Engineering Experience.
Up to 200 selected Staffordshire students, aged between 14 and 15 (Years 9-10), will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in all things engineering whilst also getting a sense of college and university life.
Following the success of its inaugural year, the second cohort will have access to world-leading expertise and equipment, completing real-world inspired design challenges to help build up their own identity as aspiring engineers.
The programme, run in collaboration with GE Foundation and its partners, The Inspirational Learning Group and FHI 360, has been designed to encourage a diverse range of students to pursue engineering as a career through an interactive and engaging experience outside of the classroom.
This opportunity comes with the added reassurance of it being completely free of charge to all candidates, including free travel and meals.
The sessions will take place at Stafford Education & Enterprise Park on Weston Road in Stafford. Engineering Experience will run for two weeks this Summer (24th July to 28th July and 31st July to 4th August). Students will be selected to attend one of these weeks, and during the five days there will be trips to the engineering department at Staffordshire University and well-known engineering organisations, such as GE’s Stafford site.
Garry Warrilow, Lead Manufacturing Engineer at GE Renewable Energy, who supports Engineering Experience for GE Stafford commented:“It is no secret that STEM industries, such as engineering, suffer greatly from a lack of diversity. This is something incredibly important to us at GE and is what our Engineering Experience aims to tackle as part of our Next Engineers programme.
“By providing students with an interactive experience outside of their curriculum, we aim to inspire a new, diverse pool of engineering talent that might have never considered engineering as a viable career option. This year’s tasks are bigger and better than ever, designed to stimulate and challenge budding engineers with help from the industry’s best and brightest.
With our first year’s Engineering Experience proving a great success, we’re confident our summer programme will inspire the next generation of Staffordshire students to get into engineering.”
Ben Dyer, Managing Director at The Inspirational Learning Group commented: “Since 2012, we have worked with over 500 thousand students through our award-winning careers and enterprise days. Working with GE to deliver the Next Engineers Staffordshire programme fits perfectly with our ethos of providing young people with opportunities to realise their future ambitions.
“The skills and experiences we will give young people in Staffordshire will help inspire them to pursue careers in engineering that they may not have considered before or felt inaccessible to them. The Inspirational Learning Group team is exceptionally proud to work with GE, and we look forward to inspiring the next generation of engineers from Staffordshire.”
All applications for the programme must be submitted by Friday, 31st March 2022. For more information about the Engineering Experience and to sign up, click here.
