Jaguar Land Rover has welcomed nearly 600 new graduates and apprentices to the business this week, the company’s highest intake to date. 

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They make up the first intake of JLR's new academy opened this week.

Today the Government’s business secretary Sajid Javid, met some of the company’s trainees and praised Jaguar Land Rover for backing the next generation of British talent.

He said: “It is great for Britain that we have got such a successful automotive industry and the graduates and apprentices joining Jaguar Land Rover this week will have an important role to play in building on that success in the future.  

“I congratulate the new intake on securing the opportunity to work at the heart of the renaissance of the British car industry.  

“Companies like Jaguar Land Rover are backing the next generation of British talent, helping people to build careers and boosting the country’s productivity.”

With some 2,500 employees having started their careers on Jaguar Land Rover’s graduate, advanced and higher apprentice programmes over the past five years, this year’s intake is the largest to date and more than 100 up on last year.     

Dr Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover chief executive officer, said: “We are investing significantly in the future of Jaguar Land Rover by creating very special vehicles for our discerning customers and, just as importantly by employing and developing the highly skilled people that will help ensure our continued success.”

The new graduates and apprentices are the first to start their training as part of the Jaguar Land Rover Academy, which was officially launched this week. 

The academy will offer learning and development for employees at all stages of their careers with the company, whether they are new recruits or more experienced employees seeking to move to the next level in the organisation.

The graduates and apprentices have begun their programmes with a joint formal induction week at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. 

The induction included motivational talks from Richard Noble, the former land speed record holder and Kenton Cool, one of the world’s leading high-altitude climbers. 

Jaguar Land Rover’s undergraduate placement scheme is increasingly becoming a feeder for the graduate programme, with 85 of the 333 graduates joining this week previously having been on paid undergraduate placements with the company.  

Similarly, the company’s ‘Young Women In The Know’ course has led to an increase in the number of females taking up advanced and higher apprenticeships at Jaguar Land Rover. 

Fourteen of the girls who took the course last year are amongst the 46 new female apprentices. 

The ‘Young Women In The Know’ initiative, launched in August 2013 as part of Jaguar Land Rover’s wider education outreach, offers female students aged 15 – 18 an insight into engineering, technology and manufacturing careers.