Automotive Global Skills Centre Opens Its Doors at MIRA Technology Park

By Nicky Godding

18 December 2018

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A college specialising in teaching much-needed automotive skills has opened its doors to students at the MIRA Technology Park (MTP), Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

MIRA Technology Institute (MTI), is a partnership between North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, HORIBA MIRA, Coventry University, Loughborough University and the University of Leicester.

It is hope that the college will help meet an increasing demand for specialist skills in the automotive sector, with a focus on the growth of new and disruptive technologies.

The courses offered by MTI will train a new generation of engineers, as well as upskilling experienced engineers, in areas such as electrification, driverless car technologies, cybersecurity and drivetrain efficiency, to ensure that the UK automotive industry continues to position itself as a global leader.

This collaboration between education and industry will deliver training from apprenticeships right through to qualified engineers and extending to PhD level.

The Institute is located next to many companies leading the charge on the next generation of automotive engineering at MIRA Technology Park.

Terry Spall, Commercial Director at MIRA Technology Park said: “The opening of MIRA Technology Institute is vital to the continued renaissance of the UK automotive sector, as we see the global sector evolve at incredible pace in areas such as electrification and connected and autonomous vehicle technology.”

“The UK - and Midlands - continues to draw global interest from the automotive industry. MIRA Technology Park is an automotive technology cluster accommodating R&D teams from many global automotive companies, that have chosen to physically locate themselves in the heart of the UK automotive industry and leverage the benefit of the HORIBA MIRA facilities and expertise. The opening of MTI augments this by providing a skills ‘machine’ to help solve the critical issue of availability of specialist skills, faced by many companies operating in areas of emerging automotive technologies.”

The institute was funded by Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP) with a £9.5 million investment from the Local Growth Fund that was awarded to North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College as the lead partner

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.