Skills Foundation:
A Decade of STEM Impact… and Counting!
Nissan Skills Foundation at a glance
13 STEM courses
100k+children to-date get hands-on learning
16k students annually
65% + female participants
This year marked a major milestone for the Nissan Skills Foundation, as it celebrated 10 years of inspiring young minds through hands-on learning in Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM). Originally launched in 2015 by King Charles (then Prince of Wales) as a single workshop for 1,000 students, the programme has since grown to offer 13 different STEM courses for more than 100,000 children - over 65% of them female.
To celebrate, more than 200 pupils were invited to our Sunderland Plant for a one-of-a-kind challenge: build 300 LEGO Nissan Qashqais totalling over 61,000 LEGO bricks, in perfect manufacturing sequence, just like on the real production line a few feet away.
Looking ahead, the Skills Foundation will double its reach to 16,000 students annually as part of the MADE NE initiative - a £14.6 million regional programme to accelerate training in electrification, automation and digital manufacturing. A new classroom at the Skills Academy for Sustainable Manufacturing and Innovation (SASMI) building will support this growth, further strengthening the pipeline of future talent for Nissan and the broader EV36Zero ecosystem.