Billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson has launched a free university in a bid to reduce the engineering skills gap in the UK. Over the next five years, he will put £15m into the Dyson Institute of Technology, which will be closely aligned with Warwick University.
According to Dyson, it is the private sector’s duty to bridge the UK’s engineering skills gap in order to compete with nations such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore.
Furthermore, Dyson is a strong proponent of Brexit as he believes it will enable the UK to bring in more engineers and scientists from outside the EU. He is pressing the government for an “Australian-style visa system” whereby engineers, scientists and university students studying these disciplines will receive automatic visas.
Currently, the UK visa application process for those outside the EU spans approximately four months, which Dyson considers “a painful process” that “likely puts some people off”, as reported by The Guardian.
The Dyson Institute of Technology will be based at Dyson’s campus in Wiltshire, and will take its first 25 students in September 2017. The students will not pay any fees, instead being awarded a salary as they work alongside Dyson engineers on upcoming products.
Government has yet to grant the institute gains university status, however.