UTC | FE Week

East London UTC’s future ‘uncertain’ as DfE fails to approve expansion

The future of another university technical college (UTC) hangs in the balance despite receiving emergency funding. East London UTC was slapped with its second financial notice to improve last month, after getting a £375,000 government bailout last year when it also chalked up a £1.8 million deficit. Its latest accounts for 2019/20 show the Department […]

What makes a UTC ‘outstanding’?

Why is UTC Reading successful while other colleges are shutting or struggling? It has a grade one Ofsted rating, but that’s only one secret to its success If Lord Kenneth Baker could take a blueprint for the beleaguered university technical college (UTC) and multiply it across the country, it’s likely that he would choose UTC […]

Ofsted slate wiped clean for grade four UTC joining MAT

A university technical college rated ‘inadequate’ earlier this year will have its Ofsted slate wiped clean as it joins a multi-academy trust under a new name this week. Medway UTC, which received the lowest possible grade from the education watchdog in May, will join The Howard Academy Trust (THAT) on November 1 as Waterfront UTC. It’s […]

Inadequate Ofsted report exposes racial bullying at doomed UTC

Bullying – some of it racial – is rife at a university technical college that announced closure earlier this week, according to its damning ‘inadequate’ Ofsted reporting published this morning. UTC@Harbourside is also accused of “too often” breaking “too many promises”, in a report that gives the 14 to 19 technical institution the lowest possible […]

Ninth UTC closure announced

Another university technical college will close next year, taking the total to nine. UTC@Harbourside, based in Newhaven in East Sussex, has announced it will close in August 2019 after failing to recruit enough pupils to become “financially stable”. The announcement comes ahead of the UTC’s first Ofsted report, which is due out on Wednesday. The […]

An eighth UTC gets the bottom Ofsted grade

Yet another university technical college has been rated ‘inadequate’, the eighth to receive Ofsted’s most dubious honour. Derby Manufacturing UTC has been placed in special measures after getting a grade four across the board – the school equivalent of FE commissioner intervention. “It is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and […]

Digital and science engineering UTC to open in Doncaster in 2020

A new university technical college is being created in South Yorkshire despite mounting problems with the programme, the Department for Education has confirmed. Doncaster UTC will train up to 750 learners in the “latest rail engineering techniques, as well as coding and 3D design skills”. It is scheduled to open in September 2020, and the official announcement explained that it aims to complement the […]

Governors ‘abrogated’ responsibilities at inadequate Medway UTC

The governors of a university technical college have been slammed for “abrogating” their responsibilities, in yet another damning Ofsted report into one of the 14-to-19 schools. Medway UTC was branded ‘inadequate’ across the board in a report published this morning and based on an inspection in early March. The verdict, which comes in the same […]

Over two thirds of UTCs rated less than ‘good’ in the last year

More than two thirds of the university technical colleges visited by Ofsted in the last year received ratings that were less than ‘good’, according to FE Week analysis. But the organisation which oversees UTCs has hit back, saying it believes the watchdog’s inspection regime is not designed to measure their performance in the most accurate […]