MICROCHIP manufacturer Filtronic Plc has undertaken an education programme to improve the skills of its staff.
The company, which employs about 100 staff at the former Fujitsu plant, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has just welcomed its latest graduates to its staff.
It provides undergraduate and postgraduate support to its staff on part-time degrees and other courses, in co-operation with local universities and colleges.
Filtronic recently sponsored a part-time MSc course, given by the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Leeds.
Lecturers from Leeds University visited the Filtronic headquarters in Shipley, West Yorkshire, to give lectures every Monday night, with the company footing the bill.
The five graduates on the course all work at Filtronic's headquarters. They are Richard Rushton, William Wyatt-Millington, Andrew Pickles, David Halfpenny and David Ibbetson.
Earlier this month, Filtronic reached agreements with US company MA/Com and BAe Systems Avionics to underpin the future of its County Durham operation.
The plant, which manufactures parts for mobile phone handsets, had been running at losses of up to £1m a month, but the new deal is expected to turn around those losses by the end of 2003.
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