UEL and London City Airport strengthen partnership

London City Airport (LCY) and the University of East London today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance jobs, research and skills in the local area. 

The MoU will focus on developing Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) resources for local schools to enable them to improve student learning and aid research projects. The airport’s annual ‘STEM in Aviation’ event, due to be held in November, will be a core instrument for helping to achieve this objective. 

LCY will offer several paid internships to UEL students to support their education and employability. This will provide UEL students with the chance to work across and learn about different parts of the business, including sustainability, community engagement and human resources. 

Both organisations will also work together on the skills development of young people across East London, particularly in key priority areas such as sustainability, hydrogen in transportation, aviation engineering, biometrics and data science, in order to provide opportunities for workforce upskilling and graduate-level employment. 

LCY and UEL have a long-standing relationship and have collaborated for over a decade to deliver community outreach projects and employment opportunities for local people. 

Professor Amanda Broderick, Vice Chancellor & President, University of East London, said,

We are delighted to welcome London City Airport to a group of progressive partners working with us on our ground-breaking ‘Diversity of Thought’ social mobility programme – providing exclusive opportunities for our students and graduates to access careers in aviation - supporting diverse talent and creating LCY’s competitive advantage of the future. This innovative partnership demonstrates our shared commitment to diversifying the talent pipeline and collaborating with industry in a unique way to address skills and innovation gaps in a changing economy.” 

Robert Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer, of London City Airport, added, “LCY is committed to supporting our local community in East London, and young people in particular. We are delighted to be working even more closely with UEL through this MoU to help students into future jobs in the aviation sector.” 

London City Airport’s next ‘STEM in Aviation’ event will take place on Friday, 24 November at the ExCeL Centre. More than 500 East London students have been invited to speak with a range of businesses and organisations about how they can access careers in the sector. 

This year, the event will include a ‘Green Hydrogen’ challenge, where students will be tasked with assessing how the latest energy and fuel innovations can be used to help organisations decarbonise.