[20
MAR 01] UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK NEWS
Computer Software For Schools Extended
A
government minister has used a visit to Coventry to announce the
extension of a scheme giving manufacturing software to schools.
Michael
Wills, minister for learning and technology was addressing the
biggest ever conference of teachers trained in Computer Aided
Design and Manufacture at Warwick University.
He
revealed that a successful scheme which gave manufacturing
software to schools will be extended to every English secondary
school.
He
said:
"I
am delighted to attend this first ever National CAD/CAM in
schools conference, in fact it is probably one of the first
ever held anywhere in the world.
“I
am immensely proud of because it shows our schools leading the
world in the application of new technology in this vital and
exciting field."
The
scheme, which provides schools with free Pro/DESKTOP CAD/CAM
(Computer Aided Design and Manufacture) software and teachers
with training in that software, is a government backed
partnership between the University of Warwick's Warwick
Manufacturing Group, PTC (Parametric Technology Corporation) and
DATA ( the Design and Technology Association).
The
programme has sailed beyond its initial target to donate
software and to train teachers in its use in 250 schools within
a year.
Within
the first year the scheme trained more than 1,000 teachers and
now, 21 months after the scheme's launch, 3,400 teachers are
registered in the scheme - more than 60 percent of all secondary
schools now have the Pro/DESKTOP software with a trained
teacher.
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