A £35 million state-of-the-art teaching and research facility has opened at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK, as it looks to become one of the UK’s leading universities for engineering innovation.
Based at the University’s Preston campus, it will look to engage directly with industry and provide students with real-world experience on live, engineering-related projects
Cutting-edge research and teaching facilities include an additive manufacturing and workshop, an intelligent systems facility, a motorsports and air vehicles lab, a high-performance computing lab, a flight simulator suite as well as a fire, oil and gas engineering facility.
The university has stated that the Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC) will act as one of the driving forces behind the Lancashire Industrial Strategy, as well as the national industrial strategy, addressing the need for innovation and producing the next generation of world-class engineers.
Professor Graham Baldwin, vice-chancellor at UCLan, said: “The provision of practice-based learning has always been a strength of this University and now, through the EIC and our links with industry, we will ensure our students gain exposure to even greater levels of applied, real-world learning.
“Our strategy is to ensure the University is at the forefront of future skills development enabling Lancashire and the North West region to lead the new ‘digital’ industrial revolution which is now upon us.”
