Coventry University is celebrating 50 years of its internationally renowned Automotive and Transport Design course which helped big names in the industry on the road to success.
The course is one of the longest-running Bachelor’s programmes in the university, having started in 1974, and has now seen nearly 3,000 students pass through the undergraduate programme and a further 500 graduate from the Master’s programme, making it one of the foremost transport courses worldwide.
Nick Hull, Associate Professor on the Automotive and Transport Design course, has curated an exhibition entitled Coventry Connections to celebrate the success of the past five decades.
There are automotive design centres all over the world which has meant that this course has always had a global reach. We couldn’t be prouder that many Coventry alumni now head up these studios across the world.
The memories of the course – the students, graduates, staff and the buildings, the pubs and bars – are a powerful bond that connects those alumni together and provides a natural conversation when new recruits join a design team, whether it be in San Francisco, Shanghai or Stuttgart.Nick Hull, Associate Professor on the Automotive and Transport Design course
The impressive list of notable alumni includes: Gerry McGovern, JLR’s Chief Creative Officer, and the firm’s former Director of Design, Ian Callum; Matthew Weaver who graduated in 1997 and is now the Vice President Design at Nissan Motor Corporation; Lisa Reeves, who is Head of Interior Design at Volvo Cars in Sweden; Robin Page who graduated in 1995 and is now the Design Director for Bentley Cars; Klaus Busse who also graduated in 1995 and is now Head of Design at Maserati and Stellantis in Turin; Miles Nurnberger, the Director of Design for Aston Martin; and David Imai, Tesla’s Director of Design in California.
Nick has also co-written a new book on the legacy of the course, which will launch to coincide with the exhibition. Also entitled Coventry Connections, the hardback book has been written with assistance from another Coventry graduate, Andy Plumb, and tells how the course that has started the dream career of many transport designers over the last 50 years.
The public exhibition and will open on 1 June to 28 June in the School of Art & Design’s gallery in the new Delia Derbyshire Building. There will also be a Designer’s Night and the book launch event on 31 May which will welcome back many of the university’s successful alumni and key industry contacts.
PIC-COVENTRY UNIVERSITY
