Press release

The University of Liège and the Campus Automobile Spa-Francorchamps (a Walloon Region skills centre) have today presented, in the presence of the Minister for the Economy, New Technologies and Higher Education, Jean-Claude Marcourt, a new education programme offer unique in Belgium and the Euregio Meuse-Rhin region, a certificate in Sustainable Automotive Technologies.

Given entirely in English, this training programme in one academic year (60 credits) is addressed not only to university students in the second year of the Masters in civil engineering, in the form of specialised outcome module, but also to holders of an engineering Masters and a Masters in Industrial Sciences. Also admitted are holders of a Masters in sciences (physics, mathematics, chemistry) and professionals if they can demonstrate in the form of documentation high level experience in the field.

The creation of this certificate results from the need to place new human specialised skills at the service of the automobile industry sector, whilst the latter is approaching a radical bend towards the development of vehicles which are more respectful of the environment and also safer. Thanks to these skills the objective is also to support the development in Wallonia of new niche economic activities in the domain of technologies automobiles and transport.

In this respect, this new training programme is one of the three components of the new initiatives taken by the Ulg, the FOREM and the Walloon region. In effect the Ulg has just created an interdisciplinary research Unit in Sustainable Automotive Technologies, which brings together the skills of some fifteen university laboratories in domains linked to automobile sustainable development. This Unit will serve as the backbone of the scientific support framework for the students enrolled on the certificate, at the same time rolling out research projects, notably with the industrial sector.

This new Ulg Unit has just reaped two research projects benefiting from European Interreg Euregio funds. The first aims at bringing together the skills of the Euregio Meuse-Rhin to support the technological development of the automobile sector, in cooperation with the regional economic development agencies. The second should lead out onto the creation of a Euregio wide training network in terms of eco-mobility, clean motorisations, new materials and quality management for the automobile sector.

For its part, the Walloon Region, at the instigation of the Minister for the Economy, supports the creation of a business incubator, 'Clean Motorisations and Sustainable Mobility,' the construction of which will begin in the coming weeks on the edge of the Spa-Francochamps circuit, with immediate proximity to the Campus Automobile. This incubator will accommodate businesses of the spinoff or start-up type and will also make available to them the remarkable Campus Automobile technological equipment (2.5 million Euros invested by the Walloon Region within the framework of the Marshall Plan 2 (Green). This same equipment will also be placed in support of the training of the students on the Sustainable Automotive Technologies certificate.

The wish of the different operators is to benefit from the exceptional international fame of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit to attract skills and investment in Wallonia in the domain of automobile eco-technologies. It is in this perspective that the Walloon Region supports the development of an automobile activities centre at Francorchamps, based on the circuit, the Cluster Automobile Wallon, a business company incubator, an industrial zone (Blancimont) and the combined R&D and training activity of the University of Liège and Campus Automobile.

'The transition towards the green economy is underway and green motorisation technologies, in the same way as the new possibilities of attracting high valued added investments or developing new niche economic activities, are opportunities that we cannot allows ourselves to miss,' declared Jean-Claude Marcourt, the Walloon Economics Minister.

Picture : The signing of the agreement of between Bernard Rentier, the ULg's Rector, and Paul Simar, Director of Campus Automobile

'It is the moment to encourage the initiatives, R&D projects and industrial projects in the sector, in supporting them through the strengthening of the education and training of baccalaureates and engineers in clean technologies. In creating a skills network in technologies, we thus want to strengthen the attractiveness of Wallonia and attract investment with a high value added,' explains Paul Simar, Director of Campus Automobile.

For Bernard Rentier, the University of Liège Rector, 'this training-innovation-development synergy between the Walloon region, Campus Automobile and the Ulg is a winning alliance which should allow our region to position itself in a sector undergoing rapid change, which needs new skills and new technologies, and which, in order to acquire them, is already mobilising very significant investment. In this context, there will be opportunities to seize and expertise to develop.'

About Campus Automobile Spa-Francorchamps

With over 110,000 hours and some 600 training components in 2009, the Campus Automobile Spa-Francorchamps has imposed itself as the high-performance training centre in the field of motor sport technology and industry. With the support of the Walloon government, the Campus has opened an Eco-Technologies department, which specialises in green technologies, such as new electrical or hybrid motorisations and alternative fuels. The Campus today has available high level equipment and an outstanding team of technicians and engineers. Its range of training programmes is aimed at beginners, technicians and engineers. Its training programmes are attended by workers, teachers and students, as well as job seekers.
www.formation-campus-automobile.be