A University Development Center (UDC) is an educational-work co-operational program that was founded by Smiths Aerospace

Smiths Aerospace

GE Aviation Systems .Smiths Aerospace was formerly one of four business units of Smiths Group plc., an engineering company and constituent of the FTSE 100 share index. However, it was announced on January 15, 2007 that Smiths Group was divesting Smiths Aerospace to General Electric for US $4.8...

 in 2005, which was acquired in 2007 by GE Aviation, in Houghton, Michigan

Houghton, Michigan

Houghton is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula and largest city in the Copper Country on the Keweenaw Peninsula. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,708. It is the county seat of Houghton County...

. The program employs students from the local Michigan Technological University

Michigan Technological University

Michigan Technological University is a public research university located in Houghton, Michigan, United States. Its main campus sits on on a bluff overlooking Portage Lake...

 to work on programs that the company is currently working. This provides real world work experience for future engineers as well as provide cost effective outsourcing

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...

for GE Aviation in the United States.

In 2007, the Houghton UDC moved to the once condemned Houghton Power House located near the Houghton/Hancock Lift Bridge. The project was an ambitious one on part of both GE and MTech SmartZone, with the support of the Michigan Economic Development Corp in excess of 1 million dollars.

Currently other UDC programs have been founded by GE Aviation at various University locations such as the Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas