A new round of University Technical Colleges (UTCs), involving two general FE colleges, has been announced by Chancellor George Osborne (pictured).

Bromley College and Sheffield College were among those to win approval for seven new UTCs to add to the 17 currently operating and 33 in development.

Five universities are behind the other new UTCs, along with employers including Bentley, Kodak and McCain Foods (GB).

Mr Osborne, who also announced four new studio schools to take the total open and in development to 49, said: “UTCs are a key part of the government’s long term economic plan because they help ensure young people have the right skills so they can maximise their potential.

“The new colleges will provide the next generation of British workers with the skills they need to secure the high tech jobs of the future.”

The announcement comes just two months after Bedford College stepped in to take over at Central Bedfordshire UTC at the request of then Education Secretary Michael Gove after it was rated inadequate by Ofsted. And the Black Country UTC was given a grade three rating last year. However, Staffordshire’s JCB Academy, which turned into a UTC in January last year, received a good rating from Ofsted in June.

The new UTCs’ announcement also comes despite growing concerns that UTCs were under-subscribed, with figures released late last year showing that some had been running at less than 30 per cent capacity. The 150-pupil Central Bedfordshire UTC was just 30 per cent full for 2012/13, while the 480-pupil Black Country UTC, near Birmingham, was 36 per cent full. A further three opened at the beginning of 2012/13 but the combined figure for all five UTCs was still only 57 per cent (825 pupils).

And less than month ago Hackney UTC, which opened in September 2012 and filled 77 per cent of its 100 pupil places in the first year, announced it was to shut its doors for good after 2014/15 with just 29 out of its target 75 pupils having applied to join in September. It had been rated as requires improvement (a grade three inspection result) by Ofsted in January.

Despite the issues, the Labour party pledged in June to open a further 100 UTCs in the next parliament if it won next year’s general election, despite concerns raised by the Association of Colleges that UTCs “may not be the best response”.

Nevertheless, all 57 of the 14 to 19 institutions are expected to be open by September 2016, by which point it is estimated that there will be 35,000 UTC student places.

The 600-student Bromley UTC, due to open in September 2016, is a joint venture between Bromley College, Canterbury Christ Church University and King’s College Hospital and is supported by a number of employers such as Oxleas NHS Trust, Nuffield Health, and Mytime Active.

It will be the only one in London and Kent to specialise in health and wellbeing sciences, with specialist courses including genetics and genetic engineering, microbiological techniques, biochemistry and biochemical techniques, laboratory science, forensic science, medical science, environmental science and biological, chemical and physical science. It will also offer a range of courses in sports biomechanics and nutrition.

Bromley College principal Sam Parrett said: “Our vision is to provide outstanding vocational education and train our students for careers in the health and wellbeing science sectors with direct input and support from employers in the industry.”

The 600-student Sheffield Human Sciences and Digital Technologies UTC will be the city’s second UTC and is due to open in September 2016 on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium. The first Sheffield UTC, backed by the Sheffield Hallam University, opened in September and specialises in advanced engineering and manufacturing, creative and digital media.

The city’s new UTC is led by Sheffield College, the city’s two universities, Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the city council and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust, Boeing (Advance Manufacturing Research Centre) and MLS Contracts.

Andrew Cropley, executive director for strategic planning and business development at Sheffield College, said: “We are delighted the city’s bid for a second UTC has been given the go-ahead.

“We will use all the experience gained from UTC Sheffield, the first of its kind in Yorkshire and the Humber, and work with our partners to create an extraordinary and career focused educational experience for young people who have an interest in the science of the human body and computing.”

The seven newly-announced UTCs:

Bromley UTC
Bromley UTC will cater for 600 students and specialise in the health and wellbeing science sectors. This project is led by Bromley College in partnership with Canterbury Christ Church University and a number of employers including Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, Nuffield Health and Mytime Active. The school will use a project-based learning approach supported by coaching and mentoring.

Crewe UTC
Crewe UTC will cater for 800 students and specialise in engineering, manufacturing and design in an area where there is a high regional demand for engineers and technicians. This project is led by Bentley and OSL Rail in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and Cheshire East Council. A number of other employers are also engaged including Siemens, Bosch, Oliver Valves, Chevron Racing and Optical 3D.

Leeds UTC
Leeds UTC will cater for 600 students and specialise in advanced manufacturing and engineering. The project is sponsored by the employers Kodak, Siemens, Agfa Graphics and Unilever, in partnership with the University of Leeds. The UTC will integrate vocational and academic subjects in a business-based environment.

Scarborough UTC
Scarborough UTC is sponsored by Unison Ltd, McCain Foods (GB) and Dale Power Solutions, along with the University of Hull and a host of other employer partners. The UTC will specialise in advanced engineering and design and control. The UTC will cater for 600 students and will deliver a curriculum that provides students with the skills that local engineering companies need now and in the future to support the predicted growth in the sector.

Sheffield Human Science and Digital Technologies UTC
Sheffield Human Sciences and Digital Technologies UTC will cater for 600 students and specialise in human sciences and digital technologies. The project is sponsored by the Sheffield College and Sheffield Hallam University and employer partners include Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust, Boeing (Advance Manufacturing Research Centre) and MLS Contracts. The curriculum will be underpinned by work-based learning and employer-led assignments.

South Durham UTC
South Durham UTC will cater for 600 students and specialise in engineering and advanced manufacturing and will be the first UTC to open in the North East. The project is sponsored by the University of Sunderland, Hitachi Rail Europe and Gestamp Tallent Ltd, two major engineering employers from the rail and automotive industries in the region. The UTC’s curriculum has been designed with a focus on local employer need in mind.

WMG Academy for Young Engineers
The WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Solihull will cater for 640 students and specialise in engineering and science. Led by WMG (formerly known as the Warwick Manufacturing Group) at the University of Warwick in partnership with Jaguar Land Rover, EEF (the Engineering Employers’ Federation), West Midlands Manufacturing Consortium and Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, with support from other employers including Aero-Engine Controls (part of the Rolls Royce group). It will utilise the employers’ expertise in the automotive, aerospace and construction industries to help prepare students for careers in local high growth sectors. The trust will be opening its first UTC — the WMG Academy for Young Engineers in Coventry — next month.

A Midland college is under growing pressure to go public over the departure of its former principal after she unexpectedly stepped down temporarily before it was announced this week that she would not be returning.

The University and College Union (UCU) wants the severance package being offered to Warwickshire College’s Mariane Cavalli, who officially leaves post at the end of next month, revealed along with details about what’s behind her departure.

Her temporary leave of absence was announced “with immediate effect” at the end of June and she was replaced on an interim basis by governors’ chair Sue Georgious. The college announced on Monday that Ms Cavalli would not be returning, but refused to comment further, citing legal reasons.

Andrew Harden (left), UCU head of FE, said: “It is disappointing the college is refusing to give any reasons why Ms Cavalli is leaving the college, or details of a severance package funded by public money.”

The college declined to reveal Ms Cavalli’s severance package and would not comment on why she was leaving.

Ms Cavalli was one of the five founding college principals of the Gazelle Colleges Group and each has dished out more than £530,000 to the organisation, according to figures obtained from Freedom of Information Act.

More than 20 current and former member colleges were asked by FE Week what they had spent on the organisation, which was launched in January 2012 with standard annual membership priced at £35,000.

Gazelle, which raked in around £3.5m from colleges, claims to, “develop innovative new learning models and new partnerships with business to deliver an improved outcome for students, their communities and the economy”.

Its chief executive, Fintan Donohue, said the “enrichment of student experiences and outcomes” was its “overriding goal,” but no independent research has been carried out into whether learners benefit. However, the UCU has called for publication of a report by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) which Gazelle claimed was “supportive” of its leadership development programme. Both the ETF and Gazelle have so far declined to go public with the report.

Nevertheless, Warwickshire College praised Ms Cavelli’s record on Gazelle and also pointed at the ties she had developed with China.

“Under Ms Cavelli’s leadership, Warwickshire College became one of five founder colleges of the Gazelle Colleges Group, a growing group of leading colleges from across the country, committed to developing an entrepreneurial mindset in their students. From just five the Group has now grown to 23 UK Colleges and continues to works with leading entrepreneurs from across the world,” said a college spokesperson.

“Her leadership also saw Warwickshire College launch the first UK FE college in China. The China-UK National Skills College was officially unveiled in 2012, cementing a joint venture between two leading vocational colleges from both countries and a Chinese Education Investment Company.”

However, the UCU remained critical.

“A successful college is one rooted in the heart of its local community,” said Mr Harden. “Ms Cavalli may leave with the warm words from people she met on taxpayer-funded trips to China ringing in her ears, but staff facing redundancy will probably view her tenure as less triumphant.”

He added: “We are not convinced that being a founder of the Gazelle Group is a particularly proud boast. A lot of money has gone to the Gazelle Group, but it seems to have just gone towards a promise of ‘student outcome enrichment’ and ‘educational concepts’, which have yet to demonstrate much in the real world.”

A college spokesperson told FE WEEK: “Regarding severance pay and any international visits, we are unable to comment or provide any further details at this time, however, the college’s annual report and financial statement for 2013/2014 will be made public in December.”

Ofsted proposals to merge the FE and skills inspection regime with schools and early years have drawn warnings from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and the Association of Colleges (AoC).

The education watchdog is expected to put the idea out to consultation “very soon,” according to Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director for schools policy and initial teacher education, and regional director for East of England.

All education inspections would be “harmonised” under a single framework from September next year, as revealed exclusively by FE Week on Friday (August 1) when Ofsted confirmed it was considering scrapping the current FE and skills common inspection framework (CIF), introduced just two years ago.

But any change in the way inspections were carried out must take into account the differences between schools and FE, Ofsted has been warned.

Stewart Segal (pictured), AELP chief executive, said he feared that any debate on the issue would focus on schools as he insisted that any consultation should be balanced.

He told FE Week: “All Ofsted inspections should be based on a common set of principles which would include fairness and transparency. However there are a number of differences between schools and FE and Skills and the current framework arrangements are beginning to work well within the sector.

“The current CIF has not been used for very long and providers and inspectors need time to develop a common understanding of the framework. It will be useful to have the discussion about the value of bringing the inspection regimes together but need to be very careful about further changes to inspection at a time when improvements are being made and there are other fundamental changes in the sector which will affect inspection such as the changes to apprenticeship funding.

“As always there is a danger that in any change it is the schools agenda which will drive the debate so we must ensure that the consultation is balanced across the sectors.”

Joy Mercer (pictured), director of policy at the AoC, said: “We would be very pleased to see school sixth form and college 16 to 18 education inspected in the same way, but have concerns about one inspection regime spanning all of Ofsted’s remit.

“Any inspection framework needs to recognise the 16 to 18 phase as very different from schools and early years where there is a national curriculum and where a focus on behaviour may be relevant.

“We would be interested to see differentiation in Ofsted’s inspection that recognises similarities and does not expect one size to fit all.”

An Ofsted spokesperson confirmed it was looking at the merger idea and said that the proposals formed part of its Future of Education Inspection programme.

However, he said it was too early to comment further on the proposals, but he could not rule out the prospect of school inspectors visiting FE and skills providers.

Mr Harford tweeted on Friday: “Mike [Cladingbowl, Ofsted’s national director of inspection reform] is leading the work to hamonise all out education (schools, colleges, EY [early years]) inspections under a single framework ready for Sept 2015. Consultation starts very soon.”

Concerns about proposed new apprenticeship funding models remain despite an update on reform plans from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

The interim statement from BIS comes three months after its consultation on the two new possible funding models closed having elicited more than 1,400 written responses.

The consultation looked at how employers might pay their share of apprentice training, which has been set at at one third of the cost. It put forward employers either paying providers and then deducting the government’s contribution from their next PAYE payment, or employers paying for training via an apprenticeship credit account, which automatically ‘tops up’ their payment with the government contribution.

The results of the consultation are due out in the autumn, but the BIS statement published yesterday (and pictured right) provided an update and also sought to address recurrent questions, such as how reforms might affect small businesses.

However, Stewart Segal (pictured), chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said questions remained, including whether providers could still be paid directly by the government rather than funding going first to employers.

He said: “It [interim statement] does not yet address the main issue of moving to a funding system that will really engage employers by allowing them the choice of direct funding as an employer/provider or working with a provider of their choice who would draw down the funding.

“It also does not address the concerns expressed by many employers and employer representative groups who do not support mandatory cash contributions, particularly for those aged 16 to 19 and at level two.”

He added: “Employers are not just worried about cashflow and bureaucracy, but the contractual commitment that they will have to make if they are required to make cash contributions and draw the funding down directly.”

In the document, BIS claimed any new system would be “accessible and user-friendly for employers of all sizes.” It also sought to re-assure employers that they wouldn’t have to pay the full bill up front, adding that employers and providers would be free to “agree a mutually convenient payment schedule”.

In the report, BIS further confirmed it was looking at ways to phase in and test the new system.

Mr Segal said: “We are encouraged that the government will consider a ‘phased approach to implementation’ and we hope this will reflect the evidence of the employer responses.”

John Allan (left), national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It’s good that government has acknowledged the apprenticeship funding reform has to work for businesses of all sizes, including the very smallest firms, and we hope this is reflected in the final design of the reforms.

“We have said all along that businesses want a funding system that places employers in the driving seat and keeps administrative burdens to a minimum. Employers will welcome the fact that they won’t have to pay their entire contribution up-front, but crucially our members will need additional assurances that the payment mechanism chosen by government will not harm cash flow.”

A spokesperson for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) told FE Week: “We have always supported the principles that underpin the reforms and believe it is vital that the new system prioritises simplicity, works for businesses of all sizes and is properly trialled and phased in. We’ll be providing a response once the government publishes its final report on the consultation.”

However, the CBI has previously aired its own concerns about the proposals, and at the AELP conference in June, its director of employment and skills, Neil Carberry (right), told delegates that businesses wanted “co-investment not co-payment”. He used social media site Twitter to call for contributions other than cash to count towards the employer’s mandatory share of the cost.

He tweeted: “We need the totality of an employer’s contribution taken into account, not just the cash — especially for the smallest.”