The laboratories are located at the new £450 million, 65-acre science and innovation Bay Campus. The contract includes long term support and Rohde & Schwarz's commitment to the University for providing students visits to the company's factories, student awards, tuition and staff training. Rohde & Schwarz has also supplied its new handheld portable R&S Scope Rider to the University. All instruments are covered by an extensive warranty and the agreement includes a seven-year support commitment. The contract was awarded following a European tender process.
The support from Rohde & Schwarz has been brilliant from the start, said David Moody, senior technician, Electrical Discipline at Swansea University's College of Engineering. Their test equipment offering was competitive and excellent, and their partnership approach outstanding. They continue to go above and beyond: coming down to help us unbox the equipment for example.
Our vision was that this wasn't just a one-off purchase, but the start of a long term partnership, a vision that Rohde & Schwarz very much shared. Our relationship is still in its early stages, but continues to go from strength to strength.
Rohde & Schwarz support commitment to the University includes an annual visit by Engineering students to the company's factory to view the manufacturing lines. In addition, they will join the University's annual off-site assessment for second year students to deliver a presentation on oscilloscope use. Rohde & Schwarz has also agreed to award an oscilloscope every year to the best third or fourth year student project.
Training and support for staff are also included in the relationship, as well as a commitment to supply on a loan basis instruments needed to support research where budget isn't available for outright purchase. The Rohde & Schwarz instruments are installed in the Engineering East building on the Bay Campus site. This 11,000 square metre building provides undergraduate and postgraduate teaching facilities, work areas and research space for staff and research students involved in Civil Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Materials and Mechanical Engineering.
The first party of Swansea students visited Rohde & Schwarz in January. After the factory visit, David Moody said: Our students emerged from the visit with a much greater insight into how the electronic industry works and the challenges that they will experience if they decide to develop production products. We saw multilayer PCBs being produced, chassis being pressed and waveguides being tuned it was a packed day, which we are repeating annually.
Phil McCluskey, Rohde & Schwarz UK's university programme manager, said: Rohde & Schwarz has always regarded equipping the next generation of engineers as central to our business, and we are delighted to have the opportunity not only to equip one of the UK's top electronic engineering departments, but to be an integral part of their education work with students.
