University of Warwick - Warwick Manufacturing Group

WMG (formerly known as Warwick Manufacturing Group) is an academic department at the University of Warwick, England, providing research, education and knowledge transfer in engineering, management, manufacturing and technology. The group provides taught and research degrees for postgraduate students, degree apprenticeships, and undergraduate courses at the University of Warwick campus. WMG is one of the largest academic departments of the university and is known for its collaborative research and education programmes with industry.
 

WMG was founded in 1980 by Kumar Bhattacharyya to support the reinvigoration of UK manufacturing through research and knowledge transfer (Bhattacharyya, made a life peer in 2004, became chairman of WMG). Its first venture was a part-time master's degree for senior industry staff; this considered technology and management as a unified whole, with modules taught at a purpose-built residential centre.[1] The course proved popular with industry and companies began to send staff to WMG in greater numbers.

Bhattacharya then decided to provide industry-related research services too,[1] convincing the university to loan money for a centre where academics could collaborate with industrialists on the development of new products for the aerospace and automotive industries. The advanced technology centre was officially opened on 8 January 1990 by Margaret Thatcher[2] and its success (and the income generated) allowed WMG to build two further buildings to enable expansion into other areas, including healthcare, construction, pharmaceuticals, mining, information technology and food and drink where learning from the manufacturing industry could be applied to similar processes and services.