Bentley Motors has kicked off a bespoke mentoring programme for female students in the fields of technology, engineering, design and business, designed to support the development of the next generation of female talent.

The programme is now being rolled out in the U.K., following a successful launch in the United Arab Emirates last year, as part of the firm's strategy to encourage more women to consider the range of careers available in the automotive industry.

The launch event, named 'Extraordinary Women', brought together students from four U.K. partner universities, Crewe University Technical College, and experts from within the business, and consisted of three panel talks and the opportunity for the students to pitch a wide-range of questions about STEM careers, opportunities in automotive and how to bring more women into the industry to the panel.

Bentley will now work with the partner universities to identity the students who will take part in the programme.