Celebrating a Decade of the Nissan Skills Foundation
After a decade of nurturing young talent, the Nissan Skills Foundation has reached a landmark milestone: 100,000 students reached.
Celebrating this accomplishment and looking to the future, the manufacturer has announced an expansion of the initiative, doubling its annual outreach to 16,000 students.
First launched in 2015 by King Charles, then Prince of Wales, the foundation aims to introduce children, teenagers and young adults to STEM and manufacturing through interactive experiences.
Starting as a single interactive workshop catering to around 1,000 students, the programme has grown exponentially, now offering 13 courses for students aged six to eighteen.
Celebrating with LEGO at the Sunderland plant
To mark 10 years of success, Nissan invited 200 children from across the North East to take part in a large-scale LEGO challenge within its Sunderland Plant.
Working alongside the production line, the students assembled 300 miniature Nissan Qashqai models from LEGO bricks.
Each model required 204 individual pieces, meaning the group collectively fitted an impressive 61,200 bricks in just one hour - a rate of 1,000 bricks per minute.
This event was not only engaging for the pupils, but also mirrored Nissan's real-world manufacturing process, reinforcing core principles of precision, teamwork and efficiency.
The foundation's impact over the last decade was strongly felt as young students constructed their own models metres away from the actual Qashqai production line.
Nissan has furthered its commitment to manufacturing skills development by leading MADE NE (Manufacturing, Automation, Digitalisation, Electrification North East), a £14.6m (US$18.9m) initiative designed to create world-class training facilities.
Through this programme, the Sunderland Plant’s SASMI building will house a second dedicated classroom, increasing its capacity to support the learning of students interested in careers involving advanced manufacturing and EV technologies.
“To have inspired more than 100,000 young minds over ten years is a phenomenal achievement," says Michael Jude, HR Director at Nissan Sunderland.
"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.”
Schools embrace hands-on STEM learning
Among the attendees at the LEGO event was a Year 6 class from Gillas Lane School in Houghton-le-Spring, the same school that participated in the foundation’s very first Monozukuri Caravan workshop a decade ago.
This workshop introduces students to Kaizen, the Japanese manufacturing philosophy that underpins production at Nissan.
Other schools taking part in the celebration included:
County Durham: Deaf Hill Primary School
Gateshead: Wardley Primary School, St Augustines
North Tyneside: Wallsend Jubilee Primary School
South Tyneside: Harton Primary School
Sunderland: George Washington School
"Through the Nissan Skills Foundation, we’ve given 100,000 school pupils a hands-on introduction to STEM careers over the past decade. And many of them are now part of our team, shaping the future of electrified mobility," wrote Adam Pennick, Vice President, Manufacturing, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK on LinkedIn.
"From robotics and engineering challenges to sustainability, the programme connects students with real-world manufacturing experiences, because the best way to learn is by doing.
"We celebrated this milestone with a special event, where local students were invited to Sunderland to build their own mini–LEGO Nissan Qashqai on our factory floor.
"And with the foundation now doubling in size, the opportunities for young talent in the North East are only growing!"
Providing a career pathway for advanced manufacturing
The Nissan Skills Foundation has developed a wide range of innovative and impactful programmes over the years. These include:
Monozukuri Caravan – an interactive experience teaching lean manufacturing principles.
VEX IQ Robotics – introducing pupils to robotics programming through national competitions.
Robotics Coding Club – gamifying coding to demonstrate its role in advanced manufacturing.
Lesson in a Box – bringing hands-on STEM learning into classrooms with ready-to-teach modules.
Additionally, the foundation hosts an annual engineering event at the plant and in 2023, launched the Nissan Skills Academy.
Developed in partnership with Education Partnership North East (EPNE) and Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, this academy offers 14 to 16-year-olds a fast-track route into apprenticeships.
Students who complete the programme and successfully pass their assessments are guaranteed an interview with Nissan, providing a clear pathway to a career in advanced manufacturing.
The foundation’s growth aligns with Nissan’s broader strategy, particularly the EV36Zero blueprint, which aims to transform Sunderland into a leading electric vehicle manufacturing hub.
By developing future talent and fostering a strong pipeline of skilled workers, Nissan is ensuring the North East remains at the forefront of automotive innovation and helping to address the manufacturing industry's ongoing skills gap.
With a decade of inspiring young minds and an exciting expansion ahead, the Nissan Skills Foundation is set to continue shaping the future of STEM education and advanced manufacturing in the UK for years to come.
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