Ayrshire College Students get a glimpse into the future of Engineering
As a part of Scottish Apprenticeship week 2019, a group of students went on a site visit to the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) in Glasgow.
The AFRC is one of seven Catapult Centres, offering businesses access to world class equipment, expertise and collaborative working opportunities.
The visit was arranged by Ayrshire Connects, the College’s Female STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) network, to inspire female science and engineering students with a glimpse of the innovation going on in industry today.
The group of students a mixture of HNC/D Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Manufacturing, and Applied Science, took time out of their day off to attend the trip.
Alaster McDonach and Shanmukha Moturu from the Centre, gave the students a tour around the amazing facilities including the visualisation suite, where they are able to digitally model things, ranging from a single component to an entire factory layout. The students were also given an insight into a variety of machinery from a wide array of forging and forming kit to a machining cell, robotics and metal 3d printing.
Engineering Lecturer Sarah Taylor said about the visit, “To see the cutting edge processes and products being developed was really impressive. The centre allows manufacturing companies to research and develop engineering technology through modelling and visualisation techniques.
Our visit to the AFRC has helped our students to see engineering in action and helps their understanding of applied maths and physics.”
Ayrshire Connects is open to any Ayrshire College female STEM student, as well as members of the public including school pupils and staff interested in STEM, and professionals looking to mentor/help women into the industry.
The students were interested to learn that ARFC take on apprentices through the University’s modern apprenticeship scheme and offer summer internship opportunities. Vacancies are posted on their website here.
12 March 2019
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