The West of England’s development plans must cater for further education alongside primary and secondary schooling in order to provide career avenue for young people who do not pursue A-levels, the West of England’s Economic Growth Conference has heard. 

Keith Hamblin, Executive Principal of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, said:“4,000 houses are being built within four miles of my campus which is 60 years old and has to be replaced but I can’t replace it: “The plans for the new homes suggests new primary and secondary schools but no provision is made for people not going onto A-level. If this is not sorted those young people will have nowhere to go when they reach 16 and they will be in trouble. We have to do a lot better to ensure that when people leave school there is a place for them to go at 16. If we don’t do this we are going to hit a wall. We have to have the capacity to respond to growing demand in the future.”
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There must be greater efforts to provide for young people who leave school to enter the workplace, like he did before re-entering education later, said Hamblin: “Unless you don’t engage that young person, that individual won’t contribute to society.”

And improving post-16 training had to be a collective effort, he said: “We cannot do this on our own: this is not an issue that can be solved by educational institutions, or by business or by local government. We all have to work together to make sure that there are the right people with the right skills in the market at the right time. Unless they are ready for work, we will have failed as an institution.”

And Hamblin understood why it is often not in smaller businesses’ interest to train apprentices: “SMEs need to survive day to day, they don’t want to plan for five to seven years because they may not be here.”

Policy makers meanwhile have to ensure there is provision for society’s ‘unsexy but essential roles’, like social care and not just the perceived growth sectors, he said: “It’s quite sexy to talk about these hi-tech tings but we should be supplying jobs at the base of the pyramid.”

Tom Britten, Commercial Director at the University of Bath, said its proposed Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) will become one of the top three centres in the world for advanced propulsion systems research. Relationships with manufacturers like Ford, McLaren and JLR could tap Bath’s ‘amazing’ research. 

Based at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, IAAPS will deliver 12,000 sq m of new research and office space. The £61m capital investment has been bankrolled by the university, HEFCE and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.

Professor Susan Rigby, Vice Chancellor, Bath Spa University, told delegates that its arts school is moving into new premises. Its old building could become a business school, including events space, which is in short supply in Bath, she added. Rigby said that there is ample potential but limited resources to redevelop the Newton Park campus, which Bath Spa is keen to re-orientate so that the currently mixed up learning and residential facilities can be separated.

Nigel Benton, Director of Apprenticeships & Employer Based Training at City of Bristol College, used his presentation to give an overview of its Advanced Construction Skills Centre (ACSC).

He said the proposed development at South Bristol Skills Academy, boasts 2,500 sq m of new build and 700 sq m of refurbished space.  Benton said construction trades would mainly be relocated from college’s Ashley Down campus to South Bristol. Two-thirds of the £9m cost has been provided by the West of England LEP: “In addition to main studies, they will be gaining additional life skills so they have tangible evidence that demonstrates they have not just technical and academic skills but a wider skill  set.”
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