Loughborough College has come together with 25 colleges across the East Midlands to set out their priorities for the Government after the General Election next year.
The colleges educate around 270,000 students, deliver 42,000 apprenticeships, employ 12,500 people and work with more than 26,000 employers.
Amongst key concerns are preservation of funding, ensuring Local Enterprise Partnerships recognise colleges as strategic partners in delivering the skills agenda and the encouragement of local employers to recruit more apprentices and trainees.
Led by the Association of Colleges’ regional representative EMFEC, the colleges have also thrown their support behind the AoC’s national manifesto, which calls on Government for fairer funding, better access to student transport and careers guidance, and to allow colleges to maintain their autonomy to help them adapt to local need.
Paul Eeles, Chief Executive of EMFEC, said: “As a region it is important for us to provide jobs for young people – particularly 16 to 18-year-olds – but we need employers to be supportive of taking them on. Government should be doing what it can to give businesses an incentive to invest in that young person.”
Ahead of the Parliamentary launch of the document hosted by the Leicester East MP, Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP he said: “Colleges in the East Midlands make a significant impact on our regional economy. Not only are they places of education but they are major regional businesses responsible for the education of 270,000 students and contributing near to £900 million to the economy. It is crucially vital that Local Enterprise Partnerships foster strong relationships with colleges in order to build on continual economic growth in the East Midlands.”
Richard Atkins, President of the Association of Colleges, said: “Providing skills for adults and employment for young people are key concerns for the east Midlands region. Colleges must continue to be autonomous to allow them to be flexible in responding to the needs of their local area to ensure they are training people in the skills needed by businesses. AoC’s national manifesto is themed around what the Government can do for colleges in terms of fair funding and access for students, and the return they get on their investment in terms of a better skilled workforce and a boost to the economy. I am pleased to see that not only have the colleges supported our ‘asks’, they have also examined the needs locally to draw attention to what they specifically need from the Government in future.”