Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers launch the Craftsman CUP challenge to Activate Learning students

posted in: Homepage | 0

130 students from UTC Swindon, UTC Reading and Activate Learning’s Technology Faculty were recently invited to MOD Lyneham, home of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME), for the launch of the Craftsman CUP.

The visit comprised of a number of exciting experiences, including exploring Challenger 2 Tanks and operating simulated remote weapons systems; all whilst gaining first hand insight into British Army engineering. These experiences offered the students an insight into how the REME maintain, repair and manufacture equipment to keep the British Army’s high-tech aircraft, tanks and weapons in fighting order and served as a vibrant introduction to the Craftsman CUP challenge.

Students are now working in project teams to engineer solutions to real-life scenarios, and engineering challenges that REME face in their everyday working lives, such as modifying the payload of a Desert Hawk to enable the carrying of medical aid to the battlefield or developing failure prevention systems for military equipment. The projects have been tailored to link closely to the students’ learning programmes which are rooted in STEM subjects such as mechanics, electrical and automotive engineering. The students will also be visited each month by the REME to support them throughout the duration of the project, September 2017 to May 2018.

Each Activate Learning campus will initially have a heat within their competition teams and winning teams will go on to showcase their design, innovation and craftsmanship abilities at the project finale in May where they will present their solutions to a team of REME dignitaries.  The winning team will be awarded the prestigious Craftsman CUP.

Alex Warner, Career Pathways Director at Activate Learning, said: “Activate Learning and the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers have been working together since 2016 to create this fantastic, bespoke learning experience. The challenge has been carefully designed to give our students a thorough and real experience of work which exposes them to real REME projects via methods that have our Learning Philosophy and the British Army’s Values and Standards ingrained in them. The students thoroughly enjoyed the project’s launch at MOD Lyneham and are keen to start work in their teams. It is fantastic for the students to have experience of working with REME as they insist on the highest of standards and our students will need to impress senior staff to win the challenge.”

Search #remeCUP to keep up to date with the Craftsman CUP challenge.