José joined University College Birmingham in August 2021, with responsibility for building relationships in both the public and commercial sectors, promoting the full breadth of the University’s work and activities to external stakeholders, businesses and employers.

Employers’ skills priorities and performance expectations heavily inform our current and future curriculum development. This equips our students with the best quality and range of skills and talents, to benefit them and wider society. Employers also inform the quality and range of our employment support and apprenticeship services, delivered by José’s team of dedicated specialists to students and alumni.

In his previous role with the West Midlands Combined Authority, José was responsible for strengthening collaboration with the regional business community. He aligned and drove enthusiasm and effort around meeting regional skills priorities to enable participants to achieve more collectively. An engineer by background and education, José spent 30 years in the automotive sector, ultimately taking the lead on programmes to develop the technical skills and competencies of new and existing staff, including new graduates, and also on the creation of degree apprenticeship routes.

José is a Chartered Manager and Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, as well as a Chartered Engineer, with fellowships of both the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.