Photo caption: Students from Sunderland college: Ross Sherriff, David Worthington, Rhys Watkins, Andrew Harvey, Nathan Ainsley and Adam Thompson won the award for the Best Financially Managed Bridge.
YOUNG Enterprise North East (YENE) is breaking ground with the introduction of a new industry specific master class to its range of enterprise education programmes to ensure students are ‘work ready’ when leaving education.
Students aged 16 and 17 from Sunderland College were amongst the first to take part in the first YENE engineering master class that is being run in conjunction with Newcastle-based oil and gas pipeline firm Wellstream and engineering giant British Engines.
The one day engineering master class, which is delivered by engineers, is designed to give students a greater understanding of the world of engineering before they enter the real working environment.
Through a series of activities the students designed, cost and built a bridge. Working in groups they each designed a section of bridge using CAD drawings for specific measurements. They then came together and assembled the whole bridge, which was judged by project engineers from Wellstream.
Wellstream project engineer Chris Gorton said: “The skills that the students develop are teambuilding, problem solving, communication skills. They also gain an understanding of job roles within the engineering industry, to fully equip them for the real world.”
Young Enterprise North East chief executive Catherine Marchant said: “The engineering master class is the first in our range of sector specific master classes that we hope to launch throughout the next academic year.
“We have worked together with North East employers and have launched this programme due to the demand for employers wanting to recruit people who not only have academic qualifications but also have life skills and relevant experience. This therefore is step slightly removed from our traditional entrepreneurial activity.
“There has never been a more pressing time for students to gain real work experience to help them get on the career ladder. It’s sink or swim for thousands and the new Young Enterprise engineering master class means graduates will be more equipped to enter the real world.
“Unfortunately academic qualifications on their own no longer provide a passport to a great career, these days you need more than that and participating in the entrepreneurial sector specific master classes is one piece of advice I would give to youngsters hungry for a successful future.”
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