A NATIONAL construction company has teamed up with students at a technical college in Oldham to deliver an innovative engineering course.
Willmott Dixon are providing the course at The Greater Manchester University Technical College (UTC), making it a centre of excellence in engineering for the region.
As well as providing work experience opportunities, Willmott Dixon is working with teachers to develop a Design, Engineer, Construct (DEC) qualification and workshop on-site at the UTC.
The opportunity to create this centre of excellence has been made available following a successful bid for a £150K grant from The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
The money will be used to buy materials and resources to develop key activities which will link the curriculum to work related activities.
DEC is an accredited learning programme for secondary-school students and has been developed to inspire the next generation of ‘built environment’ professionals.
Lee Kilgour, Principal at The Greater Manchester UTC is delighted the UTC will be at the forefront of delivering engineering excellence for the region.
He said: “We are already delivering the DEC qualification to our students and are seeing some fantastic achievements through this project-based learning approach.
“We deliver a new way of learning for 14-19 year olds, which is built around excellent learning resources and a curriculum developed with real industrial contexts supported by employer partners.
“We are looking forward to delivering this fantastic opportunity for our students and the wider community and believe this will be the start of an exciting journey to filling the ‘skills gap’ in the region.”
Anthony Dillon, Managing Director at the Oldham office of Willmott Dixon added: “Attracting new skills to our industry remains an important issue for our organisation and delivering this training facility strengthens our partnership with the UTC.
“This is one of many initiatives we are leading to tackle the skills gap and encourage more young people to develop careers in construction.
“Given our local presence in Manchester and the North West, it also fits well with our commitment to enhancing the lives of young people in the region.
“This funding will have a huge impact on the learning opportunities for hundreds of young people in Manchester.
“We want more people to see the variety of stimulating careers in construction so it’s vital we play an active part in encouraging that with initiatives like this.”
In addition to delivering the course to students, the new training facility at The Greater Manchester UTC will provide:
- Professional learning and development for DEC teachers and industry specialists in Greater Manchester
- An immersive DEC environment to enhance learning for students from UTCs regionally and also to support transition for students from mainstream school to the UTC
- A venue to showcase ‘best practice’ for schools, parents and the wider community.
Find out more about The Greater Manchester UTC on their website: www.thegm.co.uk
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