New technology college hub officially opened by Mayor Andy Street
The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Institute of Technology Hub has been officially opened.
West Midlands Mayor Andy Street cut the ribbon on the new college which has the largest Cyber Physical Manufacturing rig – a scaled down factory of the future – in Europe. He was given a demonstration of the Rig by Festo Didactic colleagues.
Dr Chao Liu and Dr Muftooh Siddiqi, Lecturers at Aston University, spoke about their plans to integrate the Rig into the curriculum, along with the creation of a specific Manufacturing course Aston University has developed around the use of the Cyber Rig, due to accept students in September 2023.
Mayor Andy Street said: “We all know it is mission critical to improve the skills of the workforce in the West Midlands so they can move into the high-quality jobs of the future. It is the cornerstone of my 100k jobs plan, and the new GBSIoT will help achieve exactly that.
"As a hub for technical education in engineering and advanced manufacturing, it’ll help make this key economic sector for the West Midlands accessible to all young people. Not only that, but it has also some world-class facilities, such as the largest Cyber Physical Manufacturing Rig in Europe, for students to benefit from."
He added: "The GBSIoT is a fantastic addition to Birmingham and the West Midlands, and I’m delighted it’s now formally open.”
GBSIoT is one of 12 Institutes of Technology (IoTs) currently established across England as unique collaborations between further education colleges, universities and employers to offer technical education and training at higher skills levels in key STEM sectors.
