Launching careers in partnership with Siemens
We're working to provide employers with the graduates they need to drive the industries of the future. Our Careers Service deliver a joint recruitment strategy with Siemens in order to increase university engagement and grow the recruitment of University of Sheffield students and graduates.
This page highlights the successes of this approach and the variety of ways in which the University engages with business to support their talent acquisition needs including opportunities for students to develop skills through the MindSphere Lounge (full case study below) and access real world digital development through the Digital Academy.
"The strategic recruitment plan with the University of Sheffield has set the bench mark for how we want to work with all of our University partners. It has really allowed us be focused and co-create initiatives together."
Simon Roberts, Head of Talent Acquisition, Siemens
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Developing skills at the MindSphere Lounge |
Originally published in the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB) State of the Relationship report 2019 The MindSphere Lounge is the global pilot of a new kind of collaboration. Sitting at the heart of the University campus it engages students with unique and stimulating opportunities to develop the skills needed in industry today. These new technologies represent a radical shift from previous manufacturing processes. Utilising the MindSphere Lounge resources, our students are working alongside Siemens to get hands on experience in Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) and the Internet of Things (IoT). The MindSphere Lounge is the global pilot of a new kind of collaboration. Located in the iconic Diamond Building at the heart of the University campus and designed to be easily accessible and highly visible to students, it is a library, interactive e-resource, training tool and research asset combined. Supporting the UK's Industrial Strategy Industrial Digital Technologies (IDTs) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are key to the UK’s Industrial Strategy. But the new technologies on which they rely represent such a radical departure from previous manufacturing processes that there is a critical lack of graduates with the right skills to exploit them. The MindSphere Lounge engages students with unique and stimulating opportunities to develop their talents in data visualisation, cybersecurity and data analytics and showcase them to sector leaders. Exploring new technologies The emphasis is on hands-on experience, and the hub provides unparalleled access to cutting-edge facilities with a team of Siemens staff permanently on hand to support and advise. The Lounge hosts the Festo cyber-physical laboratory - a fully-fledged learning system that represents the technologies underpinning smart factories and future industrial control systems. The largest fully student-led maker space in the UK, iForge, is in the same building and Siemens has become a sponsor. The Diamond building itself is a learning tool, providing data to MindSphere through its 16,000 sensors. Within the next year, other research assets in the Diamond will be linked in, including the Diamond Production Plant - high value product manufacturing equipment representing the key elements of future pharmaceutical production facilities. The data generated allows students to optimise system performance and explore new control methodologies. Pharma companies will be involved in designing a ‘digital twin’ of the Diamond Pilot Plant (DiPP) on which students can experiment with the techniques and processes the pharma industry needs. This facility will be unique in Europe. These training resources are also accessible to teachers, and already underpin undergraduate and postgraduate IoT modules across the University. Providing a space to collaborate Students are given the opportunity to showcase their new skills to Siemens and its partners through initiatives like the annual MindSphere Live Hackathon where teams of students compete over 48 hours to build a mechanical/electrical device which showcases the data collected from the network and brought it to life. 150 students from 8 universities have participated so far. Siemens use the event to spot talent and subsequently offered 30+ placements to participants. In addition, Siemens uses the Lounge’s meeting and events spaces to bring their suppliers and customers into the space, giving students the opportunity to develop PhD projects of direct relevance to industry. The University of Sheffield is now one of Siemens leading UK supplier of graduates, largely thanks to the MindSphere Lounge. |
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Siemens Digital Academy for undergraduates |
The Siemens Digital Academy is a pioneering partnership between Siemens, the University of Sheffield and Newcastle University. The academy is open to undergraduate students, equipping students with the skills and opportunity to put what they learn at university into real world use including working with MindSphere and the Siemens Internet of Things.
To be eligible for the Digital Academy Sheffield University students must be studying:
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For further information on employer opportunities at the Careers Service contact:
employers@sheffield.ac.uk
sheffield.ac.uk/careers/employers