What is EDGE Hub?

EDGE Hub addresses the current challenges faced by companies in Kent and Medway who require innovative solutions that enables them to thrive. We have developed a new and exciting model to deliver STEM education, enterprise and research to help expand the region's inward investment potential.

Our engineering degrees, already underway and fully launched in September 2020 with a new £65m STEM facility for Kent and Medway, put creativity and problem-solving at the heart of learning.

• EDGE Hub will be worth an estimated £7.6m to £11.4m per year to the Kent and Medway economy. Injecting 1,250 highly-skilled engineering and technology graduates into the local economy by 2024.
• Creating a sustainable and diverse regional talent pool with 30 to 40% of graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds and 30 to 35% women graduates by 2024.
• Canterbury Christ Church University is a leading and active partner in Kent and Medway’s schools and colleges, with strong outreach and engagement initiatives inspiring thousands of children into higher education. It also holds the STEM Learning schools network contract, STEM Hub, for the South East. Member of the national WISE campaign, the international CDIO community and Primary Engineer’s education partner for the South East.
• Supported by multimillion-pound funding from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, former Higher Education Funding Council for England, and the Garfield Weston Foundation.

Skills for industry and CPD

The diverse expertise of our EDGE Hub team is being harnessed to promote skills development in industry, particularly in the context of Industry 4.0 and the wider digital transformation agenda.

Degree courses span biomedical, chemical, mechanical, product design and software engineering, alongside technology degrees in business information systems, computer forensics and security, computer science and computing.

We have designed a comprehensive programme of Industry 4.0-focused continuing professional development (CPD) sessions. Bespoke CPD, delivered on location in businesses and in our new EDGE Hub facilities (to open in September 2020), is entirely responsive to business and industry needs.

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Our Engineering Higher Degree Apprenticeships are designed to address regional engineering skills shortages and sector diversity and have been identified and developed with industry to support local businesses to ‘grow their own’ graduate engineering workforce.

Apprentices will be supported not only to gain the relevant manual dexterity and technical knowledge, but also to develop occupational behaviours, including a problem-solving orientation, a safety mindset, good communication skills and adaptability.

• Manufacturing Engineer Degree Apprenticeship - BEng (Hons) Manufacturing Engineering
• Science Industry Process/Plant Engineer Degree Apprenticeship - BEng (Hons) Process Engineering

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We are educating future generations of engineers with the natural talent and creative potential to succeed. We are also creating a diverse workforce of highly-skilled graduates in the region who will bring the relevant skills to embrace digital transformation in industry. Employers can access this emerging student talent through live industry projects and student placements.

Incubator projects, undertaken by students and supported by academic and business expertise, can provide important and innovative solutions, particularly for businesses that might not have readily available time or in-house resources.

Work-based placements, either year-long or shorter, provide learning opportunities for students while offering businesses additional resource, skills and fresh insight.

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Backed by multimillion-pound government and commercial funding, our new flagship EDGE Hub facility opens in September 2020.

This new facility is part of a growing hub and spoke model with distributed centres of excellence across Kent and Medway, easily accessible by business. This includes existing satellite sites at Discovery Park, Sandwich, and links to the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University’s Medway Campus, Chatham.

The EDGE Hub facility, designed with and for regional employers and industry, will contain the technologies and spaces for ground-breaking innovation and pioneering research, supporting businesses, emerging entrepreneurs and innovators in taking ideas from concept to market.

It will be a highly-interactive and creative space where engineers can engage, collaborate and share knowledge with doctors, nurses, designers and life sciences students.

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