News : More apprentices at MINI and Jaguar Land Rover

MINI (1)

MINI and Jaguar Land Rover are looking for apprentices to work a their Oxford and Birmingham factories. MINI needs 32 new recruits to take up places at the Oxford Plant in August, as well as a further 13 places available at Swindon and Hams Hall, near Birmingham. 

MINI’s apprenticeships will last between three and four years and cover a wide range of skills from human resources and business to electrical maintenance and engineering. The training leads to an NVQ level three qualification and some apprentices will have the opportunity to progress right through to degree level.

Technical apprentices will attend Plant Oxford’s newly opened training school, featuring state-of-the-art classrooms, dedicated computer study areas and a fully-equipped workshop. Business and IT apprentices will attend Abingdon and Witney College in conjunction with Oxford Brookes University to help deliver the programme. The new apprentices will join more than 160 existing apprentices across the company’s production plants at Oxford, Swindon, Hams Hall, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited in Goodwood.

Meanwhile Jaguar Land Rover has launched a campaign to recruit more than 150 apprentices to join its 2013 training programme. This includes approximately 90 Advanced and 60 Higher Apprenticeships. The scheme is open for applications now and will close on 31 January 2013.

Apprentices will then go on to fulfil roles in a variety of manufacturing and product development functions at Jaguar Land Rover’s sites in the West Midlands and the North West. This includes Jaguar Land Rover’s £355 milllion new advanced engine manufacturing facility currently under construction in South Staffordshire.

Details of the apprenticeships along with other current vacancies at Jaguar Land Rover can be found at www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com and potential MINI candidates can apply for an apprenticeship through a new Facebook page, which can be found at www.facebook.com/BmwCareersUK, or via the plant’s website at www.miniplantoxford.co.uk.

Keith Adams
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7 Comments

  1. More excellent news.

    I am so pleased that proper apprenticeships are being announced by major manufacturers.

    In my view this type of training is often better than a degree for a degree’s sake

  2. Couldn’t agree with AndrewP more. Large corporates need to get out of the self fulfilling mindset that graduates are inevitably superior – I saw too many in Rover/Land Rover given responsibility with little practical and relevant motor/manufacturing industry experience.

    Although a graduate myself (applied business studies), I would encourage my kids to take a paid apprenticeship/work experience, rather than spend three years doing a degree only to end up with large debts and a qualification of questionable real world value, providing they can be guaranteed a level playing field for subsequent career development/promotion. Apart from specialist technical subjects, 6 months in a dealership teaches you a lot more (holistically) than 3 years at university?

  3. Great news is this, as it’s giving kids engineering skills, which we are rapidly losing in this country as we repeatedly outsource most engineering.

    Something decent from BMW, and contiuned good news for the Midlands & Merseyside

  4. Depends what the degree is in. Professionally Qualified, Chartered Engineers require a degree level qualification.

  5. This story is a little sad really. I did my apprenticeship at PSF, Cowley. In those days, that one site used to take on 100 apprentices every year.

  6. Being a chartered engineer means nothing. Most of us don’t bother with it as it’s a waste of money; a “qualification” you have to pay annually to maintain.

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