Blackpool and Fylde College teams up with Airframe Designs to boost engineering education

In a significant step forward for industry education, Blackpool and the Fylde College has partnered with Lancashire aerospace firm Airframe Designs to enhance the BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering programme. This collaboration aims to ensure that the curriculum is closely aligned with the needs of the industry.

Airframe Designs has been recognised with Platinum Partner status by the college for its pivotal role in shaping the programme. This partnership has also been instrumental in helping the company recruit skilled apprentices for their design, stress, and manufacturing teams.

Chris Fleet, Design Manager at Airframe Designs, emphasised the importance of this collaboration: "Nurturing talent is one of our core values, and our partnership with Blackpool and the Fylde College enables us to equip young people with the most relevant skills for today's demanding marketplace. We've recently taken on two apprentices from the BTEC course, further developing their skills through our degree programme."

The partnership has also introduced a craft appreciation course that complements the degree programme and assists young apprentice designers in creating detailed engineering parts and assemblies.

The college's course covers core engineering principles, including manufacturing processes, management, sustainability, and business improvement techniques, tailored to today's engineering sectors. Students benefit from access to industry-leading engineering and software simulation facilities. Degree apprentices also study the complexities of business, safety, and environmental and future operational changes to benefit the industry.

Michael Smith, Commercial Training Manager at Blackpool and the Fylde College, expressed his gratitude for Airframe Designs' ongoing support: "I'd like to thank the Airframe Designs team for their continued engagement with us. Their contributions of real-life scenarios and practical skills to our course are invaluable for our students."