British Aerospace, in establishing its Virtual University, has underlined that education, training, research, technology and development of its people is at the core of its strategy for growth and international development. Announced in May 1977, the British Aerospace Virtual University is a business strategy built upon strategic partnerships with academe and enterprise. This connection of two normally separate cultures will link business needs to learning and research and will enable both the company and universities to benefit. The strongest motivation lies in preparing our people for the challenges and market evolution which lie ahead as the aerospace and defence sector consolidates and adopts a global business position. This sector still employs well over a million people world-wide and plays a vital role in the knowledge-driven economy, in innovation, and in engineering excellence.

  The Virtual University has adopted an academic framework and has faculties for Learning, the International Business School, the Faculty of Engineering and Manufacturing Technology, the Benchmarking and Best Practice Centre, and the Sowerby Research Centre. These are supported by a company-wide infrastructure to support continued learning for all employees and, in the longer term, to offer services to the supplier chain, the customers, and the company's international partners. The Virtual University is based on partnership and collaboration with traditional universities, not on competition with them. Programmes will be delivered to our employees by partner institutions. Examples of initiatives of the Virtual University are outlined below.

  The network of Learning Resource Centres across the company offers access to the company-wide "Learning and Development Guide" on Intranet, which guides employees through the programmes available, offers an assessment of learning styles and guidance on job profiles and career progression. Procedures are in to link "learning" to the progression of careers or reward and recognition within the different workplaces, and measures of how effective such learning might be. We believe that these measures will contribute to our ability to allow the most talented people to realise their potential within the Company.

  The Virtual University and our Sowerby Research Centre in 1998 founded, in collaboration with Rolls Royce, and the Universities of Cambridge, Southampton and Sheffield, an interdisciplinary University Technology Partnership. The five year research project on Design and Manufacturing reflects the importance of design on every aspect from concept to the ultimate delivery of high performance and cost effective processes, systems or products.

  British Aerospace has sponsored a Systems Engineering course at Loughborough University. Two classes have now graduated, 30 graduates in 1997 and 40 graduates in 1998 graduating from this jointly designed and developed Masters degree course. The majority returned to the company including seven former aircraft apprentices who have had the opportunity to develop their potential into more important roles on major systems integration projects in UK and Europe. This MEng course is open to other students and other companies, even though British Aerospace sponsored all the original developments costs and supported the University's own expertise with equipment and lecturers.

  In January 1999, the first cohort of the new Open University and Lancaster University Management Certificate began to study management for the 21st century in a co-designed programme that also includes some of the executive behavioural skills and team work that are central in a modern global organisation. Some 5,000 employees will undertake this programme over the coming years, and other companies and international partners have already shown interest in this innovative educational product.

BRITISH AEROSPACE SPENDING WITH UNIVERSITIES

  1.  Within the £485 million overall R&D spend reported by BAe for 1997, the Company spent £5 million with universities on technical and scientific work of which about £2.9 million was on research. The total expenditure on the technical, research, education, and personal development and learning activities with the Universities would be approximately £10 to £11 million per annum.

  2.  Over 50 per cent of this total investment is with six universities as major strategic partners in engineering and R&D. BAe invests over £25,000 per annum at each of 32 academic institutions from more than 70 with which we have relationships.

  3.  BAe offers access to special R&D facilities to the external research community, such as wind tunnels, and supports 10 CASE industrial studentships per year, co-ordinated by the Sowerby Research Centre with the collaborating University. We are eligible for six DARPS (defence and aerospace research partnerships) in the EPSRC competition launched recently (arising from Foresight) out of the 10 initially submitted.

20 January 1999