Aberavon AM, David Rees, welcomes new Materials Academy at Baglan, Port Talbot.

David Rees Assembly Member for Aberavon attended the Launch of Swansea University’s new Materials Academy at Baglan. Deputy Minister for Skills, Jeff Cuthbert, also attended and they were given a presentation of the benefits the academy will provide to industry across the region.

The Materials Academy has been catalysed to provide training from work based learning on the factory floor, through to undergraduate programmes and on to postgraduate level training. The aim is to further the expertise in Materials that is critical to the Welsh and UK manufacturing industry. The Academy allows people to enter and exit at all levels of training providing maximum flexibility for students, employees and employers.

David Rees said, “It is wonderful to see this opportunity being created in an area where engineering and manufacturing has been the main source of employment for over a hundred years. I wholly endorse the initiative to encourage students to take up the STEM subjects, pursue engineering at school level, develop technical knowledge and skills in the workplace and take the opportunity to access graduate and post graduate studies without having to enter full time university study.”

“This programme focuses upon Advanced Materials and Manufacturing, one of the Welsh Government’s key economic sector Panels, and is important to encouraging more inward investment into the region. The development of the new Science & Innovation Campus on Fabian Way will also provide state of the art facilities to further support our strong industrial links and offer the sector a base for education and research“.