Shropshire Talk: Why business and education must work together

Companies want to recruit and retain the best quality staff to grow and thrive, and it’s the role of education to work closely with them to make it possible.

We recognise the ever-changing needs of local businesses, and are absolutely thrilled to have been shortlisted for a Beacon Award by the Association of Colleges for our engagement with employers.

Our thriving network of Employer Hubs allow us to work closely with Shropshire companies on shaping our curriculum to support their current and future workforce.

We’re also working hard to develop maths and digital skills, arranging work placements, industry visits, and building a comprehensive series of employer talks and masterclasses into our enrichment programme.

This year will see the roll-out of yet more T-Levels across Shropshire – vocational alternatives to A levels where students spend 20 per cent of their time on work placement with a local employer, giving them real-life industry experience. If you’re able to offer placement opportunities to our students, we’d love to talk to you.

We already have several programmes up and running, and our health T-Level students have now completed their first work placements at the Princess Royal and Royal Shrewsbury hospitals, receiving terrific feedback.

Technology is changing all the time, and this month we have launched new renewable energy training programmes to bring electricians up to date with the latest solar and battery power technology, electric vehicle charging and industry regulations.

Four short programmes are running in our Retrofit Skills Lab which has been kitted out with battery storage units, solar power systems and electric car charging points. For more details, email employability@telfordcollege.ac.uk.

We are also a lead partner in the Marches Education Partnership, which has secured a £2.5 million funding package to boost skills training in the manufacturing, engineering and construction sectors this year, with a particular focus on ‘green’ technologies.

It will see the launch of 14 new training centres and the creation of at least 30 new courses, working closely with local employers. We’re excited about the opportunities this will create for the local workforce. Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do at Telford College, and we’re working with DENSO, one of the town’s leading manufacturers, to help boost the ‘employability and productivity’ of the local workforce with an eye on transformation and sustainability.

The partnership followed a successful Engineering Skills Solution breakfast meeting at our Wellington campus which brought together local employers with the college’s leadership team, sustainability experts, and WMG from the University of Warwick.

These are exciting and fast-moving times. We are proud to be officially recognised as financially ‘Outstanding’ after delivering a surplus for the past four years, and to be rated as a ‘Good’ college by Ofsted. But we’re certainly not resting on our laurels.

This year will see the opening of our new maths and digital skills hub in Telford’s new Station Quarter, and we also have exciting plans to open a new dedicated sixth form centre on site too. And for adult programmes leading to employment, we have now been ranked the highest and top performing college in the West Midlands Combined Authority area, based on achievement and retention.

This is all testament to the hard work and dedication of so many members of the Telford College team. We also owe a debt of gratitude to the many supporters who supported us along the way.

Our most important objective is to deliver students with the calibre and skills sets that local businesses need – working together is the best way to get there.

Telford College chief executive Graham Guest