Jason Ford

Jaguar Land Rover continues drive for female engineers

News

Jaguar Land Rover is offering female students interested in engineering, technology and manufacturing careers an insight into working life at the UK’s largest luxury automotive manufacturer.

The ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers: Young Women in the Know’ course has been developed in partnership with Birmingham Metropolitan College to change outdated perceptions of engineering to encourage more young women to consider engineering and manufacturing careers. Currently, six per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce are women and the course is expected to increase the talent pool for Jaguar Land Rover and the wider UK manufacturing sector.

Jaguar Land Rover say over 100 young women from across the Midlands and Merseyside are participating in the first national programme being managed by Education Business Partnership Centres at the company’s advanced manufacturing plants in Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood.

The students, aged 15-18, will spend a week touring manufacturing, design and engineering sites, meet women from all levels of the business to find out about their career experiences and spend a day on work experience with a female mentor. They also find out about Jaguar Land Rover’s apprentice and graduate schemes and participate in workshops on job applications, assessment centres and interview techniques. Students participating in the programme will receive a new Level 1 Award in Employability and Personal Development.

In a statement Danella Bagnall, project planning and integration director at Jaguar Land Rover, said, ‘It is a very exciting time to join our business. We are investing £2.75bn a year in research and development and we need talented young people to deliver new technologies, new applications, new approaches and new ideas. I would thoroughly recommend a career in engineering to girls and hope this programme inspires lots more women to become engineers.’

The ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers: Young Women in the Know’ course is part of the ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers’ education programme which Jaguar Land Rover runs across the UK to promote STEM subjects and engineering careers.

Young women aged 15-18 interested in participating in the next course in February 2014 should click here.