Regional technology firms are queuing up to offer support to students on the University of the West of England's BSc Computer Systems Integration course. The course which by admission of Directors, Dr Rob Williams and Craig Duffy, is suited to 'techno nerds', is a popular springboard into lucrative and fulfilling work in the technology and computing industries.
MPC Data Ltd (Trowbridge), Spark Data Systems (Bristol), Zircon (Trowbridge), Broadcom (with a location in Bristol), SSL Highway Control Systems (Yatton), AGD Systems Ltd(Cheltenham) and CMS Global Technologies (Swindon) have all offered recent and ongoing support in the form of substantial bursaries, performance prizes, equipment donations and placement opportunities.
Craig Duffy explains, “We are concerned that students and their parents think that all design and development is outsourced and no longer exists in the UK. Nothing could be further from the truth! The fact is that in the South West region there has been a proliferation of companies producing the gismos and gadgets that we all use on a daily basis. For example, MPC Data in Wiltshire develops portable multi-media video consoles for the international market. Our close neighbour in Bristol, Broadcom, develops routers and set top boxes and is at the cutting edge of networking and cable technology. To the north in Cheltenham, AGD Systems Ltd manufacture a range of radar sensors for traffic management systems, a fast growing global industry with a customer base in the UK, Europe, Scandinavia and Australia.
“All of the companies that we work with find it difficult to recruit people who can develop their business because there is usually a need for specialist technical skills.
“Armed with this knowledge, we have been looking for ways to ensure the supply of talented students and graduates in these technical areas. The industrial sponsorship schemes and donations are key to achieve this. We have been pleasantly surprised at our success in securing support from local companies. All of our students go into well paid interesting work when they finish the course and many of them are offered jobs with the organisations where they have placements.”
These opinions from the employers back up the spin.
Simon Pooley, Technical Director, MPC Data, said, “MPC Data have relied on the BSc CSI course at UWE for many years to provide a selection of well prepared placement students who frequently then return to work here after graduation. Often their technical skills and professional attitude to work is quite remarkable for such inexperienced students.”
Lee Fedder, Director, SparkData Systems said, “We find students coming out of this course have a real desire and practical ability to built IT systems, and that is what we need. When looking for courses to recruit from, this one is right at the top of our list.”
Paul Cox, Senior Software Manager at Broadcom Corporation, comments, “We have consistently found the CSI students to have a strong founding in real-time software engineering, with both excellent theoretical and practical experience. These skills inevitable provide for fast integration into the team and shorter learning curve in the workplace. Broadcom works with UWE to provide technically exciting placements for students and sponsorship to selected excellent students.”
Professor Steve West, Acting Vice Chancellor UWE, said, “These mutually beneficial partnerships that Rob and Craig have developed with regional businesses perfectly exemplify UWE's commitment to ensuring that our students are well armed to succeed when they leave us. Our experience is that students, the University and businesses benefit hugely from these sorts of placements. I hope that we will continue to develop opportunities and look to find ways of using them to deepen our relationship with employers.”
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Regional technology firms are queuing up to offer support to students on the University of the West of England's BSc Computer Systems Integration course. The course which by admission of Directors, Dr Rob Williams and Craig Duffy, is suited to 'techno nerds', is a popular springboard into lucrative and fulfilling work in the technology and computing industries. 