Member Article

UTC to boost Crewe youth employment opportunities

Crewe – home to major manufacturers Bentley, Siemens and OSL Rail – is proposing to create a university technical college (UTC) to boost the employment prospects of young people in the area.

Cheshire East Council has submitted a bid for the UTC, echoing the Prime Minister’s desire to bolster the country’s manufacturing sector.

Around 130 youngsters from across the borough have already expressed an interest to study at the facility in Crewe, which is due to open in 2015.

Council Leader Michael Jones said: “The Prime Minister and I share the same vision: to eradicate unemployment in the young and give them the employment opportunities they deserve.

“Britain’s manufacturing sector has suffered over the decades leading to lost opportunities to train our youngsters up to become the engineers of the future.

“Cheshire East Council has held this vision for some time and we are delighted that the Government is throwing its weight behind this idea.

“We are now hopeful that the Department for Education (DfE) will look upon our submission favourably and support the aspirations we have for our own youngsters here in Cheshire East.

“We also fully support the drive for more apprentices and our own scheme, The A Team, is in fact award-winning.”

The UTC will cater for 14-19 year olds who want to pursue careers in engineering and high skill manufacturing, working with major local employers to develop gold-standard vocational qualifications.

Major local employers like Bentley, Oliver Valves, Cheshire East Council, Siemens, and OSL Rail – the fastest growing rail engineering company in Europe – are already classed among the UTC’s partners and supporters, ensuring that students receive world-class skills in fields like electronics, engineering and construction, computer-aided design and modeling. Manchester Metropolitan University is the university partner in the venture.

Pending approval from the Department of Education, the £10 million UTC will be built on the site of the old Victoria School building on Meredith Street and will eventually cater for over 600 pupils.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .