Popular training programme Gateway to Engineering has welcomed a host of new additions.

The latest intake consists of 20 pupils from secondary schools in the east end of Glasgow and Rutherglen as they look to springboard into the world of engineering.

Funded by Clyde Gateway, the initiative is offered to pupils at Eastbank Academy and St Mungo's Academy in Glasgow, and Stonelaw High and Trinity High in Rutherglen, to take time out of the classroom to gain a valuable insight into one of the most in-demand professions in the modern economy.

Natalie Philips, the Project Manager for Education, Business & Community Growth, is responsible for managing the programme, working with a number of key partners in the academic, scientific and engineering worlds. She said: "Gateway to Engineering has been a huge success from the very beginning, but there is no doubt that our latest intake are embarking on what we all consider to be our best-ever designed and most ambitious programme.

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"It is structured around the pupils being available one day each week, and for a ten-week period they get to enjoy a mixture of lectures, workshops and site visits. Once we reach the new year, they will all be given an offer of a work placement, again for one day a week, through a number of the country's largest construction and civil engineering companies.

"At the end of it all, the pupils will graduate with an SCQF Level 5 qualification and have gained valuable work experience. More importantly, they will emerge with an awareness and knowledge that will help them make informed decisions about what they want to do in the future. Our hope is that many, or indeed or all of them, will consider engineering as an option."

The Gateway to Engineering programme is again being supported by staff from the University of West of Scotland and Glasgow Kelvin College, with both locations being used for the lectures and workshops. Robertson Construction and BAM Nuttall will be among those providing the work placement opportunities as well as hosting the site visits that will be undertaken as part of the programme.

The 2019 intake will also benefit from the support of the world-renowned British Geological Survey (BGS), which is currently on-site at Cuningar Loop in Rutherglen, where it is developing a world-class geothermal energy research site on behalf of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The research site will investigate the potential for warm water from disused mine workings to be used for renewable heat.

(CM/JG)