The 'SEAT Classroom' Comes to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia

MARTORELL, SPAIN – May 22, 2009: The ‘SEAT classroom’ today reached the Barcelona Higher Technical College for Industrial Engineering (ETSEIB) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) to show students there the integrated development and production process of a vehicle, from the initial idea on the designer’s drawing board to the final customer.

Jointly organized with the SEAT Chair, the study day entitled ‘SEAT: design, development, safety and sportiness’, was officially opened this morning by Francesc Roure, director of ETSEIB, Margarita González, head of the SEAT-UPC Chair, and Frank Bekemeier, Vice-president for Research and Development at SEAT.

In his remarks, Bekemeier highlighted SEAT’s commitment to bringing the complex integrated production process of a vehicle closer to the University. “We are convinced that, armed with the knowledge of how a vehicle is designed and developed, what technologies, tools, skills and knowledge are required, students will be motivated to go deeper into study of the process during their educational years”.

One of the several presentations made during the day was a keynote lecture about vehicle design process. Jaime Puig, director of SEAT Sport, together with Jordi Gené, official SEAT team driver, also talked about the race strategy that helped SEAT come away as winners of the 2008 World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) as well as making them leaders this season.

Other aspects were also looked at, such as the development of a car chassis, electronic integration or the production system. Also, students were able to go into a detailed analysis of all the components in a car, being provided with a SEAT León cutaway model on display to that end.

This initiative is yet another of the raft of activities that the Spanish car manufacturer is organizing jointly with the UPC. The most recent of those activities is the ‘SEAT PhDs’, targeted at supporting basic and applied development and research. Likewise, within the ‘SEAT Chair’, two post-graduate courses have been set up – ELTICA, for automobile electrics and electronics, and CARMAT, providing greater insights into bodywork and materials used in car manufacturing.