Automotive engineering history in Bradford

100 years ago in 1910 the first Jowett car was sold, having been designed and built in Bradford.

Although the Jowett car company, founded in 1904, has long since gone, the School of Engineering is privileged to have Benjamin Jowett Memorial Scholarships which have been awarded by members of the Jowett family to high-performing students on its Mechanical, Automotive and Design courses.

The teaching of Automotive Engineering at the University of Bradford first began as part of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers' accredited Mechanical Engineering course in 1987. This was followed over the next few years with specialist teaching in areas such as Engine and Powertrain, Chassis Engineering, and Automotive Manufacture.

In 1998 this culminated in the introduction of a dedicated Mechanical and Automotive Engineering Automotive BEng course, by which time research in Automotive Engineering was very well established.

In 1994 the MSc programme in Engineering Quality Improvement (EQI) was started as a partnership with Ford of Europe to increase the understanding and ability of selected members of its engineering staff in Quality Engineering.

In 1995 Ford sponsored the first Professor in Engineering at the University of Bradford, the Ford Professor of Quality Engineering. Since then over 120 Ford engineers from all over the world have gained Bradford MSc degrees which have underpinned their subsequent senior careers in the industry.

In 2009 a prestigious partnership with Cummins Turbo Technologies on advanced turbocharger engineering was launched with the installation of a 500MW regenerative engine dynamometer experimental facility at its core. This is now part of the Hybrid Powertrain and Engineering Research Centre (HyPER-C) in the Automotive Research Centre.