A team of engineering students from Banbury and Bicester College have won an Armed Forces regional college competition.
The Corps of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) provides engineering support to maintain and repair the vast array of British Army equipment.
Every year, they set a challenge to engineering students in the local area, asking them to submit a design and present it to a group of judges.
This year the students were given a brief to consider how the Challenger Armoured and Repair Recovery Vehicle (CRARRV) could be made more lightweight and were mentored by Army personnel through the process.
Teams from all Activate Learning campuses, and University Technical Colleges (UTCs), took part in the competition.
Each team was given the same brief and tasked with writing a full report on their findings, producing a prototype and presenting their idea to a panel of judges.
The finalists were then selected to attend a day at the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in Lyneham where they delivered their presentations to the judges.
Students were scored on the design’s appearance, innovation, understanding of the issue and presentation delivery.
The team from Banbury and Bicester College were judged as the winners after excelling in all areas and being highly commended for their interpretation of the brief.
Harrison, Gareth, Claydon and Aiden are all studying an Engineering Level 3 Extended Diploma at Banbury and Bicester College.
Gareth said: “I was ecstatic that our team won the competition, and I am also grateful to my team members and our teachers for making this victory possible.
“Throughout the project, I learnt many new things regarding developmental engineering processes, communication skills and time management skills. I also gained confidence in public speaking and presentation, which will help me at university and in my future career.
Julie Rogers, English Teacher and Lead Practitioner at Activate Learning, who led on the project, said: “I’m delighted that the students won because of the effort, teamwork and accumulation of skills they have learnt at college over the last two years that have now come to fruition.”
Find out more about Engineering programmes available to study at Banbury and Bicester College or contact Activate Learning on 0800 612 6008.
