Leading industrialist to head up UCLan's EIC

One of Europe’s leading industrialists has been named as the person to lead the development of the University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) multi-million pound Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC).

During his career he has led the strategic and operational transformation of a number of high-technology businesses, including Land Rover, BMW, Airbus, BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce.

UCLan’s EIC is a £30m state-of-the-art facility which is due to open in 2018. It will capitalise on the location of the university at the centre of one of the most intensive engineering and manufacturing areas in the UK to create an internationally competitive facility that will bring together the region’s expertise from within academia and industry.

The 53-year-old said: “The huge financial investment in the EIC will help transform engineering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. As manufacturing technology is constantly developing we want to ensure our courses stay one and two steps ahead of the game. The university has been in the city under various guises since the 1820s but what we’re creating here over the next three to five years will be facilities which will stand the test of time for the next 100 to 150 years.”

He added: “Engineering is a crucial industry not only to this area but across the world. That’s why we want to double the number of students studying on engineering education programmes, strengthen our industry links even further and offer support to a wide variety of small, medium and large manufacturing businesses.” The EIC is part of the university’s £200 million campus masterplan which will create a world-class environment which blends new facilities with the creation of public, green spaces to encourage people from all over the city to visit and enjoy the Preston Campus.