Barnfield College is among 13 colleges across the country that are aiming to revolutionise training in Britain’s £10 billion motor vehicle industry.
It offers employers a national one-stop skills shop in motor vehicle engineering. Barnfield will be the specialist college in south-eastern England for heavy and light vehicles, body repairs and painting.
The scheme could see hundreds more students from outside the Luton area training at the college.
The training scheme, which will guarantee reliable and consistent high standards across the UK, will involve more than 3,000 apprentices, taught by more than 200 lecturers in state-of-the-art facilities worth more than £50 million.
The training is worth more than £10 million annually and will also offer industry updating, management and soft skills training and bespoke upskilling.
Barnfield technology campus director Tony Joyce said: "Being part of this vital national consortium gives Barnfield the chance to increase the level and quality of resources on offer to key employers and to drive up standards of motor vehicle training. Barnfield’s training can now compete with any other institution at an international level."
The size and reach of the consortium will allow it to compete for lucrative national training contracts. It is already working with leading vehicle companies including Vauxhall, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Toyota.
