Revealed: 45 T Level colleges sharing £50m to refurbish teaching spaces

Forty-five colleges delivering the government’s flagship T Level qualifications from next year have won a slice of £50 million capital funding to prepare their facilities.

Further education and sixth form colleges are being funded to, for example, build a mixed reality suite to teach coding, and a ward where students can practice health skills, the Department for Education announced today.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan said this investment “will mean even more students will benefit from world-class facilities, giving them access to brilliant new buildings that will help them get ready for the world of work”.

A total of 65 projects have successfully bid for cash: forty-one bids have been approved for a share of the £50 million, while a further 24 have been approved in principle, “subject to satisfactory clarifications being provided in relation to specific parts of their application,” the DfE said.

Six schools have been awarded funding in this wave in addition to the 45 colleges.

T Level funding had helped college ‘transform’ facilities

The first three T Levels in construction, digital and education rolled out last year, a further seven will start this September in subjects including science, onsite construction and digital business services, and students will be able to choose from a further six such as accounting, finance and management in 2022.

Nearly 50 colleges scheduled to deliver T Levels from this year have been handed a share of £48.5 million to refurbish facilities, the DfE announced in January.

The funding has enabled our college to transform facilities

One of the T Level providers successful in both the last and the latest rounds is Weston College, and its principal Paul Phillips said the money had enabled his college “to transform facilities and develop new opportunities for learners to work with state-of-the-art resources”.

Tameside College will be using its share of the funding announced today to create a new health skills ward to support teaching the health and science T Level.

West Suffolk College will be refurbishing and creating new facilities with its slice of the £50 million. Its plans include creating a “mixed reality suite” to teach coding as part of its plans to deliver the digital T Level.

Sector welcomes T Level investment

Association of Colleges chief executive David Hughes welcomed “the fact that the government is continuing to invest in up-to-date buildings and facilities for these courses and students”.

The DfE revealed in January £135 million would be made available for providers delivering T Levels from 2022 and today promised further funding will be announced later this year.

FE Week has approached the DfE about how much each college has been allocated of the £50 million.

T Levels capital fund wave 3: approved projects

T Levels capital fund wave 3: projects approved in principle

(These projects have been approved subject to satisfactory clarifications being provided in relation to specific parts of their application)