Nissan's See Inside Manufacturing Tour
School children have been welcomed into Nissan's manufacturing plant in Sunderland and its European Technical Centre in Cranfield as a part of the Government's 'See Inside Manufacturing' initiative.
The initiative aims to boost the image of UK manufacturing, encouraging more young people to take up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics subjects.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "For too many young people the word manufacturing is a turn off. A worrying poll out recently found that only one out of ten children aged 11 to 14 thought that engineering was an important job and even ranked being a politician as a better choice of career!
"We are determined to shake up old fashioned views of manufacturing. Through the Government's See Inside Manufacturing campaign and Nissan's events at Sunderland and Cranfield, we are giving young people the chance to see the exciting face of modern manufacturing which is highly skilled, high tech and highly paid."
2500 11-13 year old students are taking part in the fourth Nissan Schools' Engineering Discovery Event over to weeks, where they will learn about modern car manufacturing, watch the Nissan Qashqai, Juke and Note being made on the production line, take part in educational games, and find out how engineers support and improve the manufacturing process at the plant over its 25 year history.
The event started on 10th October 2011, and is targeted at children before the select their GCSE subjects.
Nissan's European Technical Centre in Cranfield, Bedfordshire held a further 'See Inside Manufacturing' event where pupils from the surrounding area learned about design engineering and development as well as meeting recent recruits who talked about the experiences in becoming engineers.
Nissan Sunderland Plant Engineering Director Richard Ebrahim said: "Nearly everything that we use in our daily lives involves an engineer - whether it's designing, building or testing. British engineers are behind some of the world’s most iconic inventions and Nissan is very proud of the contribution that our engineers have made to this tradition, with their innovation, excellence and a 'can-do, will-do' attitude.
"We want to inspire students who are considering which GCSE subjects to choose, by showing them that a career in engineering and advanced manufacturing is a diverse, exciting and rewarding choice."
