One of the biggest colleges in the country is to overhaul its estate and launch a wholesale workforce-reskilling programme.
Today sees The Manchester College launch its new “College 2020” strategy. Principal Lisa O’Loughlin said that the wide-ranging programme was intended to meet the institution’s aspiration to be “amazing by 2020”.
In order to align with the government’s Northern Powerhouse plans, the college is to launch “Centres of Excellence”, offering new “learning opportunities and environments” in the city.
Ms O’Loughlin (pictured) told TES that the college was looking to consolidate its physical sites around the city for its 25,000 learners.
“We’re working to consolidate the 17 sites into probably about four or five, delivering absolutely excellent professional and technical education,” she said.
“But it’s not just about a new brand and new buildings. It’s about investing in the teaching ability to update [the college’s teaching staff’s] professional and vocational skills in order to underpin that.”
This will focus on “refreshing” teachers’ professional skills. “Without making sweeping generalisations about the sector, that is something that is underinvested in, really, because it’s so complex and difficult to do,” Ms O’Loughlin said. “We’ve got an investment process over the next five years to assist our teachers to go back into industry and refresh and retrain.”
The college is also looking to create new programmes of study in partnership with employers. “We have ambitions for all level 3 curricula to be co-branded and co-created in the next 18 months, then for level 2 [programmes] to be the same as well,” she added.
In January, The Manchester College launched a group structure to oversee its provision across the country.
The LTE (Learning, Training and Employment) Group brought together The Manchester College, distance and online-learning provider MOL, Total People, which offers workplace learning, and Novus, which delivers skills to people furthest away from education, including prison-based learning. The group has an overall turnover of around £200 million.
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