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Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) - hi-tech training for apprentice engineers and technicians

Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) offers high quality training for apprentice engineers and technicians at technology businesses in the Thames Valley.

We offer training for the Level 3 Engineering Technician Apprenticeship Standard

This Level 3 qualification has been designed by employers to give the technical and practical knowledge required to work in the engineering sector. It opens up a world of opportunities in this exciting career, including many here in Oxfordshire – one of the UK’s hi-tech hotspots.

Training is delivered by our training provider, MTC Training.

OAS’s Level 4 apprenticeships, in Automation and Controls (from November 2023) and Space Technician (from February 2024) have been developed in conjunction with the MTC. The qualification is delivered over 30 months on a block release basis to provide full flexibility for the learner and employer. It provides learners with extensive knowledge and the specialist skills required to fulfil roles within engineering with a higher level of responsibility.

The aim of OAS is to benefit both employers and the apprentices being trained

  • Working with employers to meet their specific training needs;
  • Training work-ready apprentices with the competencies expected in the workplace;
  • Offering an employer-led, value for money training programme;
  • Providing technicians to build regional and UK economic growth.

Located at Culham Science Centre near Abingdon, OAS is a partnership between the UK Atomic Energy Authority and the Science & Technology Facilities Council. The two organisations have a history of apprentice training in science and engineering stretching back more than 70 years. Our new centre, opened in September 2019, is managed by our apprentice training partner MTC Training. MTC’s Advanced Engineering apprenticeship helps learners develop the skills needed for delivering the technologies of the future in the high value manufacturing sector.

Phase 1

Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) opened in a newly-fitted building at Culham in September 2016. The first intake of apprentices received training on a range of the latest equipment by then training provider, JTL. Apprentices received training on a suite of high quality equipment used in the hi-tech industrial sector.

Phase 2

The purpose-built OAS Training Centre opened in September 2019, run by training provider MTC Training, has the capacity to train up to 350 apprentices per year. The 3,800 square metre building contains labs and workshops specifically designed for training in engineering disciplines including mechanical, electrical, robotics and PLCs, vacuum, cryogenics, fluids and control & instrumentation. OAS worked closely with local businesses to ensure the new building’s capabilities met their needs.

Phase 3

OAS ‘Phase 3’ has added over 2,000 square metres to the original building providing space for learners in four additional key industrial sectors: Automation and Controls, Space, Renewable Energy and Nuclear. With a total investment in excess of £30 million, the developments will deliver even more high-quality training in some of the most strategically important sectors to the UK economy. The expansion allows OAS to accommodate a larger number of future engineers, allowing more apprentices to acquire the crucial skills necessary for the growth and success of advanced manufacturing in the UK. 

Culham Science Centre

Oxfordshire Advanced Skills is based at Culham Campus near Abingdon.

Culham Campus is a key location for hi-tech innovation and enterprise in Oxfordshire, employing approximately 2,000 people. It is home to world-class energy research at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the UK’s national fusion lab. It also hosts around 40 businesses in areas including aerospace, battery technology, autonomous vehicles and biotechnology.

Culham Campus is owned and managed by the UK Atomic Energy Authority, which has recently opened new robotics and materials research centres alongside its fusion research laboratory. Oxfordshire Advanced Skills is the latest development for the site and there are exciting plans for more new buildings to substantially increase commercial activity at Culham.

Find out more: Culham Campus