3 minute read - 27th March 2025
Nissan Sunderland plant set to double its Skills Foundation STEM project
After ten years, and with more than 100,000 young minds inspired, Nissan is set to double its Skills Foundation STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) programme to reach 16,000 children annually.
Officially launched in 2015 by King Charles, the then Prince of Wales, the Nissan Skills Foundation began as a single interactive workshop aiming for around 1,000 students. Fast forward ten years, and the foundation has beaten that target 100-fold, expanding to 13 different STEM courses for students aged six to eighteen.
To mark the double milestone, Nissan invited 200 children from across the North East onto the Sunderland plant factory floor to build 300 Nissan Qashqai’s made out of LEGO bricks. With each LEGO Qashqai using 204 pieces, a total of 61,200 LEGO bricks were expertly fitted during the hour-long event – a rate of about 1,000 bricks per minute. And, of course, the task was carried out in perfect manufacturing sequence – just like the real production lines a few feet away.
After ten years, and with more than 100,000 young minds inspired, Nissan is set to double its pioneering Skills Foundation STEM programme / Picture: Nissan GB
Michael Jude, HR director at Nissan Sunderland, said: “To have inspired more than 100,000 young minds over ten years is a phenomenal achievement. We could not be prouder of our training team who help unearth the exciting talent of the future. But it’s not just about the numbers. We have dozens of current staff who attended a Skills Foundation event while at school, proof that the foundation’s work today really does produce the talent of tomorrow. So I am delighted to be able to announce the doubling in size of the foundation as part of our leadership of MADE NE. Reaching more than 16,000 students a year will supercharge the talent pipeline we and our supply chain partners need to build the brilliant electric cars of our EV36Zero future.”
The expansion marks the next phase of Nissan’s skills drive as cocreators of MADE NE (Manufacturing, Automation, Digitalisation, Electrification North East), a £14.6m initiative to create world-leading training facilities that support the region’s manufacturing sector. In the MADE NE training facility, adjacent to the Sunderland plant, Nissan will open a second dedicated classroom, significantly increasing potential student STEM engagement for the electric vehicle and advanced manufacturing sector.
The expansion marks the next phase of Nissan’s skills drive as co-creators of MADE NE, a £14.6m initiative to support the region’s manufacturing sector / Picture: Nissan GB
Among those attending the LEGO production event was a Year 6 class from Gillas Lane School in Houghton Le Spring, which was also the first school to attend the Monozukuri Caravan workshop, centred around the Japanese art of manufacturing, a decade ago.
Kay Straughan, headteacher of Gillas Lane School, added: “Over the last 10 years, we’ve seen many of our school children attend various courses at the Nissan Skills Foundation. We believe that by introducing children to the exciting opportunities available in STEM-based careers at a young age, we’re providing them with the knowledge to inform their future career choices as they go through their educational journey. It’s also a brilliant opportunity for our students to gain hands-on and applied learning experiences outside of our school environment.”
The Skills Foundation delivers 13 courses designed to inspire potential career avenues in manufacturing, engineering and technology / Picture: Nissan GB
