All colleges strive to cultivate close links with local employers. Highbury College in Portsmouth has gone one step further: it uses colocated training and business environments to offer students real-world learning.

This is different to the hair salons and restaurants found in most colleges, developed for the sole purpose of training students. Colocation involves independent businesses working in partnership with the college to place trading and training facilities within the same physical space.

There are a number of colocation projects at Highbury. Collingwood Care Services runs a care agency from the college, regularly taking students out on work experience and exposing them to real-life situations at a pivotal time in their training.

That’s Solent, a community television channel, works from studios within the college, and content is generated from across the curriculum. The institution is also home to the Highbury Northarbour Centre, one of the largest construction training centres in the South of England, as well as construction firm NDK Interior. “It’s important that, during the course, the students are rubbing shoulders with employers, so that employers aren’t something they see for the first time when they go out on work experience - they are throughout the building,” explains the college’s managing director, Deirdre John.

Linking study and work

Full-time students across all trades have to carry out work experience as part of their programmes but, regardless of the funding requirement, John asserts that time spent in a real-world environment makes learners more employable.

In addition, they see role models running viable businesses, providing a clear link between the expertise they develop through their study and a sustainable career.

But the benefits of colocation are not just one-way, according to John. “NDK Interior’s workforce has tripled since they have been based in Highbury. And they have never had to spend any money on advertising - they get referrals on top of referrals,” she says.

As well as students going to work sites with the company, a machine workshop is being developed within the college so that learners can access work experience alongside NDK employees, manufacturing components such as sash windows.

The college’s proximity to industry is also felt at a strategic level, thanks to an active expert advisory board - a group of employers who engage with the college throughout the year. There are also seven sector-specific expert advisory boards across curriculum areas, ensuring that teaching and learning match up-to-date industry expectations.

‘It’s important that students are rubbing shoulders with employers’

The boards are not simply a gesture. When one was concerned about the relevance and language of a qualification specification, the college went back to the drawing board to find another that more accurately met the needs of employers.

While some of Highbury’s colocated projects reside within the college walls, others are based in the workplace. There is a classroom at The News, Portsmouth’s daily newspaper, and another at the Southern Daily Echo. The publications take 21 students in total for work experience. The learners complete a year-long level 3 journalism diploma covering reporting, court reporting, public affairs, media law, video broadcasting and shorthand.

The classroom at The News is essentially a section of the open-plan newsroom, partitioned behind a retractable wall. When an urgent story arises, the wall goes back and the whole area morphs into one big, fast-paced office into which the learners merge.

“The students are writing in a newsroom and their stories are getting published on a daily basis,” explains journalism programme leader Paul Foster. “The paper is getting stories from around its patch, and the huge bonus to the student isn’t just the experience, it’s the portfolio of published work.”

Hot off the press

Alumni from Highbury’s journalism courses include: Mark Austin, outgoing presenter of ITV Evening News; John Pienaar, the chief political correspondent at BBC Radio 5 Live; and Chris Cramer, senior editor of The Wall Street Journal.

The level 3 course functions as an aspirational training goal for students on lower-level courses, and the reputation of Highbury College as a centre for excellence in journalism training is a draw for many local school pupils. “I’ve had young people of 14 and 15 come up to me on open days and tell me that they have seen the course and they are going to come to college with a view to going on it,” Foster adds. “They’re planning three or four years ahead, which is brilliant.”

‘The journalism students’ stories are getting published on a daily basis’

While the concept of dual professionalism for vocational teaching staff is a popular one, in reality, finding the time and opportunity to integrate with industry is a challenge for teachers who work full-time.

At Highbury, that time is built into teachers’ calendars in the form of “back to the floor” days, when teachers link with industry in their specialist area to ensure they retain a high level of current vocational practice.

Highbury College’s commitment to providing credible, relevant vocational training is not a gimmick or a fleeting initiative. Keeping education close to industry - both physically and philosophically - is at its core.

Sarah Simons works in FE colleges in the East Midlands and tweets as @MrsSarahSimons