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Mention has been made
earlier of the role played by TRE in the War years in training and with the
cessation of hostilities it was felt that this should continue. The
techniques of radar itself, and of display, control and timing and other
associated functions were known only to those working in or with the Armed
Forces and would clearly be applicable in wider peaceful roles. These
techniques were fully exposed in a Symposium organised under the auspices of
the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1946 and the Americans were quick
to publish in 1947 a series of 28 volumes which became known as the MIT ‘Five
foot shelf’. But it was likely to be some time before formal courses for the
rising generation became available.
Proposals ranging from
the foundation of a post graduate institution comparable, say, with the
American MIT to an Apprentice training scheme were considered and it was the
latter which was adopted. War time experience had highlighted the gap in UK
between the research scientist and the development and production engineer
and it was felt that its filling was of prime importance.
Discussion with the
County and City Education Authorities suggested that in return for a
financial contribution, a new Technical College being planned in Worcester
might fulfil the function that TRE had in mind, but the building was delayed
for financial reasons and the Ministry of Supply decided to set own its own
School. Twelve student apprentices were recruited in 1947 and these together with
the engineering craft apprentices already in training, formed the nucleus of
the School.
R W J Pryer from the
Loughborough Colleges was appointed as the first Principal in September 1948
and the first full time Lecturer in September 1949 following which, as more
academic staff were recruited, the TRE staff were released for more
conventional duties in the Establishment.
A Board of Governors
under the Chairmanship of the late T E Goldup - then Managing Director of
Mullard Limited - was formed and included representatives of the Ministry's
Headquarters, the Worcestershire County Council, the Institution of
Electrical Engineers, the Departmental Whitley Council, the Trades Union side
of the Department's Joint Industrial Council, Birmingham University and the
Ministry of Education as well as of the two Establishments.
Following the sudden
death of Mr Pryer in 1956, the late John Gray, from the Borough Polytechnic
was appointed Principal and the School moved to a consider-ably modified
Block at the Pale Manor Site and was renamed the College of Electronics. The
County Hotel in Malvern was acquired and converted into Parkview Hostel for
apprentices under the supervision of a Warden nominated by the YMCA.
At about this time the
annual intake of Student Electronic Apprentices was increased to 48 so that
at the height of the scheme and with an intake of 24 Craft Apprentices per
year, there were some 350 or more apprentices at RRE, though boys recruited
locally were not resident in the Hostel.
In 1959 Mr Goldup died
and was succeeded as Chairman of the Board of Governers by G S C Lucas, the
General Manager of the Electronics Group, AEI Limited.
This training scheme with
its closely integrated practical and theoretical instruc-tion gained a very
high national reputation and owed much to the enthusiasm of W J Richards, the
Director of RRE,to whom education was an abiding and, perhaps, supreme
passion. Almost all the early apprentices obtained entry to the Universities
on the strength of their HNC results and took first and, in some cases,
higher degrees. They and others who followed with qualifications no higher
than HNC were greatly sought after by Industrial organisations who were able
to offer higher salaries than Civil Service regulations permitted. This factor,
together with the increasing number of comparable courses in other Colleges
generally and in the new Worcester Technical College in particular, caused
the Ministry in 1960 to reconsider its now somewhat anomalous role in
technical education and in 1968, the College closed. The Principal retired
and such staff as did not obtain posts elsewhere were transferred to the
Worcester Technical College which forthwith undertook the academic training
of all RRE apprentices. Since the viability of the College was no longer a
factor and with staff recruitment to RRE becoming limited, recruitment of
apprentices was drastically reduced.
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