The government has approved a further 15 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) to open across the country over the next two years, bringing the total number of UTCs to 34.
For the past four years, the Baker Dearing Educational Trust has been working with the Department for Education, local employers, universities and further education colleges to develop a national network of UTCs.
UTCs, open to 14–19 year olds, are sponsored by a university and local employers with the latter helping to shape the curriculum. Designed to meet the shortfall of engineers and technicians, UTCs are expected to offer students a high-quality, technical education, which can lead to apprenticeships, foundation and higher degrees.
Dr Ralf Speth, chief executive officer Jaguar Land Rover, supporting the WMG Academy for Young Engineers at Warwick University, said: ‘The UTC will help to address very important issues at the beginning of the educational cycle, namely exciting young people about careers in engineering, and developing the pool of talent that we can all rely upon for future generations to come.’
The JCB Academy and Black Country UTC are already operating with three more in Birmingham, Hackney and Houghton Regis due to open in September this year.
UTCs working towards opening dates in 2013 and 2014 are in Aylesbury, Bristol, Burnley, Daventry, Greenwich, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield, Silverstone, Southwark and Wigan.
Colleges approved today include MediaCityUK UTC in Salford, Liverpool Low Carbon and SuperPort UTC, and Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC.
Welcoming today’s announcement, Stephanie Fernandes from the Institution of Engineering and Technology said: ‘We hope that the expansion of UTCs will fill the hole created by the government’s decision to downgrade the value of the successful Engineering Diploma.
‘UTCs will be at the heart of achieving improvements to the economy and supporting a pipeline of future apprentices, technicians and engineers. However, this expansion must be speeded up to ensure the pipeline doesn’t dry up.’
Dr Colin Brown, director of engineering at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: ‘In the institution’s recent poll of 1,000 manufacturers 76 per cent said that their companies are recruiting, but only 47 per cent of these are finding people with the right skills.
‘Initiatives such as these will hopefully help plug these gaps and train the engineers and technicians of tomorrow. The great missed opportunity is that the colleges are set up to teach the engineering diploma that this government has now downgraded.’
Why are we spending money on these new UTC’s when we already have collages right across the country which could be linked more closely with the universities and local businesses, with any left over money going towards the upgrading of the collages and universities?
Does this refer to the technical schools to be set up for 14 year olds as detailed in yesterdays Daily Telegraph? What we need is the practical outlet for young people whilst still at school to enable them to do practical tasks, be they engineering, electrical, mechanical etc or building, carpentry etc. This obsession with degrees is nonsense. Presumably the ‘Engineering Diploma’ referred to by I Eng T is the ONC/D and HNC/D which all the Engineering Institute did nothing to save from extinction as they were obsessed with degrees and C Eng’s. We need qualified doer’s! Craftsman and Technicians and yes even operatives. At the end of the day there is a practical outcome to all engineering. We need seamless routes from start to finish you don’t want to have to start 3 rungs up the ladder.
Oliver Dunthorne
Hydraulic Engineer ( retired & frustrated)
I hope these new UTC are up to the standard of UMIST and Imperial College.
Manchester Technical College was such an UTC type of institution before World War 11 awarding degrees, often by evening classes. Later Manchester acquired a second University – The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology or UMIST as it was known. Bradford Technical Polytechnic, with it’s world-leading Textiles Department, was refused when it applied to become University of Bradford Institute of Technology. Politicians in Whitehall denied permission for a Technical University as something of an unheard of suggestion, ignoring UMIST and Imperial College, London. University of Bradford had to become a general University which diluted its excellence in Engineering and Technology because potential Arts students considered it as inferior place to attend which then reduced it’s attractiveness to the parents of future Technologists.
The Beverage Report was not implemented properly to the detriment of technical Engineering in UK after WW11. Grammar Schools and Secondary Modern schools were recommended by Beverage, but he also specified Technical High Schools of Grammar School Academic rigour, plus Technical Schools equivalent to Secondary Moderns. Some of the Technical High Schools were superb and complimented local Grammar schools well from my personal experience. The Comprehensive, though commendable, had a real challenge in providing those four forms of schooling envisaged by the Beverage Report and finished up chasing Politicians targets.
as an HND -CEI Chartered Engineer I hope this means that a career ladder will be available to the practiccal engineering student so that a glass ceiling is broken when they get to be forman.
A practical engineers experience is invaluable in todays young graduate world repeating inventing the wheel hype and repeating old mistakes