image: Steel seen at the nanoscale. Much of the work of the METaL project, led by Swansea University, is with the steel industry.
Steel is a 21st century industry. Using images like this, Swansea University researchers can examine tiny nano-level structures, which are the same length as a human fingernail grows in 1 second.
These new steels are now being used to make a new generation of lighter and more efficient cars.
Credit: Swansea University
Welsh Government Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford announced today an extra £1.4m EU funds to help more employees in the advanced manufacturing sector gain skills to drive a globally competitive Welsh economy.
The Materials and Manufacturing Education Training and Learning (METaL) scheme, led by Swansea University's College of Engineering, is helping to raise skills, boost performance and productivity to drive this growing industrial sector.
The additional funding of £1.4m will enable the scheme to help more than 400 people gain technical skills in new and emerging sectors, such as energy and power, smart manufacturing, materials engineering, circular economy as well as corrosion and coatings technology. It will also support an extra 60 companies in North, West Wales and the South Wales Valleys.
Professor Drakeford said,
"The Welsh Government is committed to ensuring the Welsh workforce is equipped with the skills needed to drive growth and productivity. This is another example of the importance of replacement funding for Wales following Brexit so that future investments can continue to support our ambitions for a sustainable and prosperous Welsh economy."
Dr Khalil Khan of Swansea University, METaL Project manager, said:
"Securing this EU funding ensures the continuation of a fantastic vehicle for Swansea University to share its knowledge and experience to support Welsh businesses.
"The funding complements the investment of Welsh Government in supporting Welsh businesses, and will benefit industry by ensuring that its workforce have the correct technical knowledge to enable Welsh businesses to compete in a global marketplace."
One of the companies that has benefited from the METaL scheme is TATA Steel in Port Talbot. Andrew Townsend, a Fire and Environment Manager at the site talks about his experience of the scheme.
"The METaL courses have helped colleagues gain a better understanding of technical aspects associated with their operations. In particular, the environmental issues course has helped people understand environmental legislation and global, local, and market-sector based environmental issues."
"The benefit for our employees is that they now have a better understanding of the environmental aspects of our business.
For the company it is an advantage to have a workforce which is more environmentally aware which helps improve Tata Steel's environmental performance."
The scheme aims to support more than 800 people by the time it is completed in 2022.
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Swansea University is a world-class, research-led, dual campus university. The University was established in 1920 and was the first campus university in the UK. It currently offers around 350 undergraduate courses and 350 postgraduate courses to circa 20,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The University's 46-acre Singleton Park Campus is located in beautiful parkland with views across Swansea Bay. The University's 65-acre science and innovation Bay Campus, which opened in September 2015, is located a few miles away on the eastern approach to the city. It has the distinction of having direct access to a beach and its own seafront promenade. Both campuses are close to the Gower Peninsula, the UK's first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Swansea is ranked the top university in Wales and is currently The Times and The Sunday Times 'Welsh University of the Year' for 2017. It is also ranked within the top 350 best universities in the world in the Times Higher Education World University rankings.
The results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 showed the University has achieved its ambition to be a top 30 research University, soaring up the league table to 26th in the UK, with the 'biggest leap among research-intensive institutions' (Times Higher Education, December 2014) in the UK.
The University has ambitious expansion plans as it moves towards its centenary in 2020, as it continues to extend its global reach and realising its domestic and international ambitions.
Swansea University is a registered charity. No.1138342. Visit http://www.swansea.ac.uk.