Bedford College’s Gas & Plumbing Centre at Kempston opened its doors to an official visit by two key representatives from India, hosted by SummitSkills, the UK sector skills council for the building services engineering sector.
Neil Collishaw, of SummitSkills, chose Bedford College as one the UK’s leading examples of training in plumbing and related trades. He brought with him Jaikant Singh, head of MIS and monitoring at the National Skills Development Corporation of India, and Nishant Gupta, of the Indian Plumbing Skills Council.
Mr Colishaw said: “There is an enormous training challenge for India and they have turned to the UK so we can share with them how we manage and monitor the infrastructure of training standards and qualifications, and how that training is delivered at ground level for the benefit of the country, the plumbing industry, employers and apprentices.”
Bedford College’s director of construction and building services Tony Joyce said: “This is a great opportunity for Bedford College as a showcase of excellence in training for plumbing and related skills.
“The opportunities for training and sharing our expertise here in the UK are enormous.”
The visit to the plumbing centre at Kempston was part of a large delegation from India who were elsewhere viewing the best telecoms, electronics and logistics training on offer.