FE Week Reporter | FE Week

Team UK praised for WorldSkills triumph

Record breaking youngsters were honoured by an Olympic winner for their achievements at WorldSkills London 2011. All 43 members of Team UK were celebrated at a Welcome Back Reception at One Great George Street, London, which included a visit by the team’s ambassador and Olympic 100 metre relay gold medallist Jason Gardener MBE. At WorldSkills […]

Weston College law students get legal advice

Legal experts of the future experienced the corridors of power on a visit to the Houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court. Weston College’s A-level law students headed to London, firstly to listen to Speaker John Bercow’s traditional opening ceremony to Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons. They heard the Second Reading […]

Government announce £250m vocational training fund

The government has announced £250 million to try and entice businesses into investing in skills and apprenticeships. David Cameron hopes the money will boost vocational training and put young people back into work. The £250 million will be funded directly to employers over roughly two years, and completely bypass colleges and traditional training providers. The […]

Colleges look for community spirit at ‘dynamic’ conference

The Association of Colleges’ Annual Conference is a chance for leading think tanks to launch their latest reports in front of a huge education audience. The findings of the Independent Commission of Colleges in their Communities was led by Baroness Sharp of Guildford, the Chair of the Inquiry, when she was interviewed on centre stage […]

FE Week charity auction raises £10k for the Helena Kennedy Foundation

Visitors to the Annual Association of Colleges (AoC) Conference spent their first night raising money for charity by bidding in a special celebrity auction. The event, organised by FE Week and sponsored by Tribal and NCFE, raised exactly £10,000 for the Helena Kennedy Foundation (HKF), by auctioning luxury items such as tickets to a Premiership […]

‘Worry’ over 12 per cent fall in FE adults

Concerns have been raised over the decline in total adult FE participation at a time when the numbers of adult apprenticeships are surging. Government data for 2010/11 shows the number of learners aged 19 and over in government funded FE and skills provision is 3,129,200; an 11.6 per cent drop from 3,540,500 the previous year. […]

Apprenticeships need to be explained more clearly to learners, says MP

Apprenticeships and vocational training need to be explained more clearly to learners, according to Simon Hughes MP. The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats said the number of vocational qualifications needed to be simplified into a “menu” of options that is clearer for both parents and young people. Mr Hughes told FE Week at the […]

‘Trust’ is key for new college freedoms

As the saying goes, all good relationships are built on trust – and it seems that motto can be extended to the world of further education (FE). The link to the old adage was made during the Association of Colleges (AoC) Annual Conference and Exhibition 2011 on Tuesday, when more powers due to be handed to […]

NCG and Northumberland College merger collapses

Plans for a merger between the NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group) and Northumberland College have collapsed. The Northumberland College Corporation met last night and agreed to “rescind” the decision it made on the July 13 to merge with NCG, which offered an investment of £25 million over the next four years. However, Northumberland College Corporation’s said […]