The Green Skills Centre at Milton Keynes College was opened by Mayor Cllr Marie Bradburn and MP Emily Darlington in October.
A GROUP of colleges in the South East Midlands have joined forces in a campaign aimed at further developing their work on meeting local skills needs.
More than £5 million was awarded to the Colleges of the South-East Midlands via the Department for Education’s Local Skills Improvement Fund, with significant support from Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire Chambers of Commerce.
Between them, Barnfield College in Luton, The Bedford College Group, Milton Keynes College Group, Moulton College in Northampton and Northampton College educate and train almost 60,000 people every year, working with around 9,000 businesses across the region.
The funding was split over four projects around green skills, improving communication with employers, digital skills, and healthcare.
The green skills project was led by The Bedford College Group, focusing on developing the skills needed as the UK moves towards net zero and the need increases for trained specialists to install devices including heat pumps and electric vehicle charging points.
Investment has also gone into the construction of a new Green Skills Centre at Milton Keynes College’s Chaffron Way campus and the equipment needed to train a new generation of skilled engineers and technicians.
Barnfield College has added to its green skills training facilities.
Further work between colleges will see the expansion of a green skills curriculum fit for the future.
Yiannis Koursis, chief executive of The Bedford College Group, said: “The Bedford College Group is proud to play a key role in addressing the skills needs of our region, particularly through our work on the green skills agenda.
“By collaborating with employers and our CoSEM partners, we are ensuring that the workforce of tomorrow is equipped to tackle the challenges of today, whether it is achieving net zero, advancing healthcare or driving innovation in digital sectors.
“These projects showcase the power of partnership in delivering transformative outcomes for both learners and businesses, ultimately strengthening our local and national economy.”
Milton Keynes College Group was responsible for a project around raising awareness among, and growing connections with, employers across the region. This included a significant piece of research, talking to businesses about their needs and gauging their understanding of what further education can offer, as well as identifying any barriers to them seeking FE support.
This part of the project also included a marketing and social media campaign which saw hundreds of referrals of businesses to colleges through a joint online portal, under the tagline Delivering Skills, Boosting Business.
The group’s chief executive and group principal Sally Alexander said: “As colleges, we know that where there are skills needs we can deliver support for employers, whether it is to train new staff or raise the abilities and competencies of their existing workforce.
“When we work with businesses, we achieve very high satisfaction rates, as shown by the amount of repeat business we all receive. One of the great strengths of this campaign was to get in front of companies that did not already know about what we can offer.”
A digital skills project fronted by Milton Keynes College has been central to the development of a portfolio of new courses to provide the skilled digital workforce so much in demand in the city and across the region. Curriculum development is taking place in collaboration with local employers in order to ensure learners are being armed with the most in-demand competencies.
These courses will be shared with all the CoSEM colleges. This project saw significant investment in digital equipment for all colleges to support the delivery of new curriculum, it also included a significant upgrade of Moulton College’s wi-fi to enhance their student experience.
Barnfield College has led a project, working with the region’s employers in the healthcare sector, to support the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan.
College staff have received specialised training on the latest clinical skills for those entering the health and care workforce and attended workshops with NHS Trust experts on best practice in the use of advanced simulation equipment in healthcare training.
“The Local Skills Improvement Fund projects represent considerable investment in facilities and staff training, as well as collaboration with employers and this investment enhances our ability to train our learners in the skills they need for jobs in our local workforce,” said Barnfield’s principal Cath Gunn.
“We are very proud of the work we are doing with the NHS, which provides local people with the training they need to enter high-quality careers and fill critical roles in healthcare.
New equipment is being provided and bespoke training ward facilities installed to enable college learners to develop skills for working in hospitals.
“I am delighted that our CoSEM group of colleges have shown how effective collaboration across the region can be,” said Sally Alexander. “Working with each other, working with businesses and working with government and our local community, we can ensure Britain has the wherewithal to flourish.”
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