Spirent’s Technology Donation Helps Young Engineers at UTC Swindon 

Partnership helps shape the college’s curriculum, create employer-led student projects and provide work experience for students

Crawley, UK – February 9, 2015 – Spirent Communications, the leader in networks, services and devices testing, today announcedit has donated laptops and tablets to UTC Swindon to help students’ engineering education through project focused, team based learning. As a partner of UTC Swindon, Spirent Communications will help shape the college’s curriculum, create employer-led student projects and provide work experience for students.

“These laptops and tablets, generously donated by Spirent Communications, are welcome additions to our IT inventory and significantly enhance our students’ learning experience,”   said Angela Barker-Dench, principal at UTC Swindon. “Partnerships between colleges and industry are central to government thinking behind university technical colleges. This is a great example of a partnership in action.”

“Becoming a partner of UTC Swindon is a major step for us,” said Darren Cooke, director of operations for Service Experience at Spirent Communications. “As an innovative engineering organization, Spirent wants to inspire young people and open their eyes to engineering in all its forms. Through this partnership, we can help UTC Swindon develop the engineers the UK will need in the future.”

Prospective students and parents will have the opportunity to discover all that UTC Swindon has to offer at two upcoming open days at the college’s Bristol Street site. These are taking place on Saturday, April 18 and Saturday, June 20.

            Visitors can go on a guided tour around UTC Swindon’s £10 million state-of-the-art facility. The tour takes in light-filled workshops and classrooms that reflect the workplace, the lecture theatre and a hub area where students can generate ideas, socialize and inspire others. The tours will be available from 10.00 am. There will be presentations every hour from 10.00 am and refreshments will be available throughout the day. College staff will be on hand to explain the curriculum. The open days begins at 10.00 am and conclude at 3.00 pm.

UTC Swindon’s facility includes the Old School Building and the iconic Water Tower. Both structures, which are Grade II listed, have been treated sympathetically, with the Water Tower being restored and brought back into educational use.

About UTC Swindon

UTC Swindon opened its doors in September 2014. It caters for 600 students aged 14 to 19, providing courses for young people who aspire to a career in engineering. Students at the college can gain the skills necessary across all sectors of the engineering industries. If you are interested in applying for a place at UTC Swindon, email info@utcswindon.co.uk or download the application form at www.utcswindon.co.uk.

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc. (LSE: SPT), a global leader in test and measurement, offers an extensive portfolio of solutions to test data centers, cloud computing and virtualized environments, high speed Ethernet networks and services, 3G/4G wireless networks and devices, network and application security, and positioning technologies. For more information visit http://www.spirent.com/about-us/News_Room/About_Spirent_Communications_plc.aspx

For UTC Swindon media enquiries, please contact Emma De Maio, redheadPR, 07921 160 134, emma@redheadpr.co.uk.