Gill Howland

JCB is funding an academy in East Staffordshire to raise the profile and appeal of the manufacturing industry among young people.

JCB's latest step in its long-term investment in UK education programs involves a GBP1.8 million (USD3.15 million) investment in the JCB Academy, specialising in engineering, manufacturing and international business for 14 to 19 year olds.

Academies are independent, publicly funded schools that are non-selective in admission.

The academy, which will have up to 540 pupils, is expected to impact positively on Staffordshire and Derbyshire areas like Stoke-on-Trent and Derby, which were deprived of traditional industries, JCB said in a statement. More than half the intake would come from those areas, with scholarships for boarding available.

Staffordshire Learning & Skills Council executive director Gill Howland said manufacturing was an important sector for Staffordshire.

"The current skills shortage is something we need to tackle at the grassroots and having one of the largest global manufacturers on board can only help to change perceptions and open endless possibilities of a career in the industry," she said.

The JCB Academy, planned to be opened in September 2009, is being developed in partnership with Burton College and Thomas Alleyne's High School, Uttoxeter.

Burton College has trained many JCB apprentices and mature employees and prepared JCB-sponsored undergraduates for industry life.

JCB has had a long history of involvement in manufacturing and engineering education programs. The company sponsored and hosted Young Enterprise events for 10 years and was honoured with a gold award by its national organisers in 2005. It sponsors nine Young Engineers' Clubs and has been recognised by the Institutes of Mechanical, Electrical and Agricultural Engineering as a provider of excellent training for 18 years.