West Suffolk College is working in partnership with Anglian Water to offer a level 2 construction course at our Milburn Centre Construction Campus.
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new skills programme in collaboration with Anglian Water and its twelve alliance partners, providing a fully employer-supported multi-skill construction course. This innovative pre-apprenticeship programme has been designed with the specific aim of attracting new talent into the utility sector and enabling learners to ultimately work for one of the Alliance companies as apprentices.
The majority of study in the year-long course will be held at our Milburn campus, delivered by college tutors through practical and theory based sessions.
In addition to this, industry specialists from the Alliances will sponsor the programme “hands-on”, with specialist plant, materials, work experience and lectures, contributing to learning from day-one. An important element of the course is the work placement component with one or more of the Alliance's partner companies.
All students who successfully complete the sponsored Level 2 Anglian Water Alliances Construction Programme will be guaranteed an interview for an apprenticeship with Anglian Water Alliances.
Mark Ames, Head of Construction here at the college said “This is excellent news for the College and a fantastic opportunity for students (school leavers and mature students) who are interested in pursuing a career in construction. They’ll experience and develop a number of skills throughout the year so they can make an informed decision about their future pathway. A guaranteed interview for an apprenticeship after qualification is a very unique and valuable opportunity to develop their career further ‘on the job’.”
We were up against strong competition in the area to secure the partnership. Dave Newsome, Collaborative Skills Manager, Anglian Water Alliances, said “We are focused on building partnerships that will create opportunities for training learners with the vital skills and behaviours needed to meet industry skills shortages. We were impressed by the College’s existing provision, their academic teams and “can-do” approach to working with employers. We don’t want to sponsor a programme by simply putting our name to it, we want to be in there working side by side with our chosen providers. Together we’ll tackle some of the great challenges facing the water industry by teaching and educating future leaders in the field.”
We are one of three new colleges selected as part of an ambitious talent expansion programme; the others being Milton Keynes College and Grimsby Institute. The initiative has already been successfully piloted through the College of West Anglia at Wisbech in support of an area of social need and to raise career aspirations; through this success Anglian Water is dedicated to creating more employment opportunities in other parts of the region.
We are already recruiting for the course which will begin in September.