Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon has dubbed the University Technical College programme “excellent”, despite ten per cent of the 14 to 19 institutions closing just six years since they were first introduced.

In his first major speech in his current role, Mr Halfon told the audience of the Edge Foundation Annual lecture: “I actually love UTCs … I think UTCs are incredible.”

Speaking at Westminster Kingsway College today (October 19), Mr Halfon said he disagreed with the comments made yesterday in a Times article, entitled ‘Technical colleges flop as they fail to recruit pupils’.

He said: “The Times in my view has got it utterly wrong.

“If you just judge a school by its exams results – fine. But what you should judge a school by is the destination and whether people get jobs and skills afterwards.”

The Times’ article echoed FE Week findings from October 7, which showed that more than 10 per cent of university technical colleges are now expected to close, only six years since the first was opened.

The latest to close its doors will be Royal Greenwich UTC in London, which Greenwich Council is converting into a secondary school at a cost of £13m.

Royal Greenwich UTC will become Greenwich Trust School from next September, just two years after it opened as a 14-to-19 institute.

FE Week analysis in February showed that the college, which has a capacity of 600, had just 257 students during the last academic year – representing a 35 per cent drop from the 397 who attended in 2014-15.

Its closure marked the fifth UTC out of 48 to shut up shop since they were launched in 2010.

Our February investigation discovered that student numbers had fallen at 40 per cent of UTCs that opened between 2010 and 2013.

Four other UTCs – UTC Lancashire, Central Bedfordshire UTC, Hackney UTC and Black Country UTC – have all closed with reports of low student numbers.

The Department for Education meanwhile confirmed last month that a proposed UTC developed in partnership with Burton and South Derbyshire College would not now open, despite the £8m the government had already spent setting it up.

Just last week, Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC was issued a financial notice to improve due to an “apparent loss of financial control”.

The UTC, which opened in north London in September 2014, has a 600-pupil capacity, but just 231 on roll as of January.

Despite these findings, Mr Halfon commented that he welcomes the work of Lord Baker, one of the founders of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust which promotes UTCs, and added that although the UTC programme “will take time” it will “show clear benefits to students in the long term”.

He admitted, however, that UTCs “can be improved”, and said that work is being done to achieve this change.

Mr Halfon kept is focus on the destinations of UTC students, which he described as “an extraordinary result”.

He said: “Over the past year, just 0.5 per cent people who have left UTCs are – in fact I hate this word – so called ‘NEETs’.

“And 44 percent have gone on to university, 28 per cent have gone on to apprenticeship and many have done to do other things. 17 per cent I think have gone into work.

“It’s an extraordinary result if you look at it in terms of destination.”

When questioned about the problems with student recruitment in UTCs by FE Week editor Nick Linford, Mr Halfon stressed that “there are over 40 UTC colleges still”.

Responding during a question and answer session after his lecture, he said: “Lord Baker is very passionate about education starting at 14 – I am looking at that.

“There is another UTC minister as you know, Lord Nash, who looks at these things.”

He added: “My view is that we look at what works, and then take the evidence from that.”

Richard Atkins’ appointment as the new FE commissioner has been confirmed by the Department for Education – almost a month after FE Week first reported the news.

He will take over the role from current FE commissioner Sir David Collins, who will retire in November.

Mr Atkins was principal of Exeter College from 2002 until March 2016, and retired on a high after the college received an Ofsted grade one in 2014.

He was president of the Association of Colleges in 2014/15, appointed a CBE in the most recent New Year’s Honours list for this services to FE and became an Ofsted board member in July.

Mr Atkins said he was “delighted and honoured” to be appointed the new FE Commissioner.

“I am keen to build on the work that Sir David Collins and his team have begun over the past 2 years, and to work with colleagues in colleges to develop a high-quality and financially sustainable network of colleges across England which provide the very best technical and professional education for learners, employers and local communities,” he said.

Sir David congratulated Mr Atkins’ on his appointment, and said: “Richard will bring extensive experience of further education and skills training to the role and I am confident this will prove invaluable in continuing the work of the commissioner. I welcome him to the role.”

Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon joined Sir David in congratulating Mr Atkins.

He said: “High-quality further education colleges are engines of social mobility, creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to get the skills they need to succeed.

“In Exeter and Yeovil, Richard has demonstrated that he is an exceptional leader.

“I am confident that he will use his skills to improve delivery and unlock opportunities for learners across the country to go further in learning and their careers.”

Alongside Mr Atkins’ appointment, the DfE has also confirmed that current deputy commissioner Marilyn Hawkins will step down from the role alongside Sir David, after leading the completion of the area review process in London.

Three existing FE advisers – Steve Hutchinson, Cindy Rampersaud and Andrew Tyley – have been promoted to deputy commissioners, bringing the number of FE deputies to five. 

Plans for a merger between two Sussex colleges that aims to boost apprenticeships and higher level skills in the region have been unveiled.

The link-up between City College Brighton and Hove and Northbrook College is one of the recommendations to have emerged from the Sussex area review of post-16 education and training.

The two colleges are set to join forces in March 2017 under the name the Metropolitan College, according to the merger document.

Consultation on the proposals opened today, and will run until November 17.

The merged college will “place apprenticeships and work-based learning at the heart of what we do” and “develop a range of vocational specialisms, at level 3 and above, which link to local economic priorities”, the consultation document said.

Nick Juba, chief executive of City College Brighton and Hove, and Sue Dare, principal of Northbrook College, said: “The Metropolitan College will offer clear routes right up the educational ladder providing opportunities for every young person or adults across the city region to gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.”

Northbrook and City College’s chairs of governors, Ian Lowrie and Julie Kerney, said the newly merged college would be the “engine room of the local economy”.

City College, which was rated good overall at its most recent Ofsted inspection in June 2011 has around 8,200 learners of whom 700 are apprentices, according to the consultation document.

And Northbrook, which was also rated good at its most recent Ofsted inspection in October 2013, has more than 10,200 learners, of whom around 1,800 are apprentices.

The proposed name for the new institution, which was chosen “to reflect the combination of people, ideas, culture and place that the new organisation will serve”, is also being consulted on.

A spokesperson for Northbrook College told FE Week that the colleges may continue to use their existing names “where this is important to local communities”.

The spokesperson said that the merger would not affect the colleges’ curriculum offer for 16- to 18-year-olds, “but there will be a single offer to employers for apprenticeships”.

The Sussex area review was part of the first wave of post-16 education and training area reviews, and had its first steering group meeting on November 5.

FE Week understands that the review completed in May, but the final report into the review – including its recommendations – has not yet been published.

The planned merger between City College Brighton and Hove and Northbrook College comes after FE Week reported that Brighton and Hove council completed its own area review of post-16 education and training, including school sixth forms, earlier this month.

The main recommendations from that review, which covered City College Brighton and Hove but not Northbrook College, were that small school sixth forms should either merge or close.