University building the foundations for next generation for scientists and engineers

Young people from Northampton Academy were given a taste of a career in engineering and coding during a project with a global technology firm and the University of Northampton (UON).

As part of its mission to widen access to higher education, the UON’s Schools Engagement team arranged for a group of year seven students from Northampton Academy to visit the Cummins Power Systems plant in Daventry.

After a plant tour and learning about its history, Cummins apprentices and current UON student ambassadors guided 30 pupils in building their LEGO Mindstorms robot, Charlie.

Building up to the visit, the Schools Engagement team, the Cummins apprentices and the UON ambassadors, visited the pupils at their school for an hour each week over five weeks to support them through a series of coding challenges.

Rajita Patel, UON Widening Access Coordinator, said: “They were a fantastic group who tackled some exciting challenges—boosting their creativity, problem-solving and teamwork skills along the way.

“But this project is not just about robotics, it’s also about expanding horizons and exploring what working in science, technology, engineering and maths can look like in an engaging way.

“We’re very grateful to the staff and apprentices at Cummins for sharing their experience and knowledge, and also to our student ambassadors who led the smaller groups and were great examples of the next step for those secondary school pupils and where experiences like this can lead to.”

To find out more about the Schools Engagement programme and how the University is working with schools to widen the range of people going to University, visit the UON Schools Engagement page.