College to Become Centre of Technical Excellence

A college has been given a share of £175m to transform it into a centre of technical excellence.

Milton Keynes College is among 19 across the country to benefit from the government funding, which aims to deliver training in sectors deemed important for the future of the UK.

It will become a technical excellence college for digital, chosen because it sits in the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor.

Speaking on a visit to the city, Baroness Jacqui Smith, Minister for Skills, said the money would help provide new opportunities to work with employers, develop staff and introduce new courses.

She added that employers needed people who understood artificial intelligence (AI) because "we need young people to be able to succeed if the country is going to succeed".

Sally Alexander, Chief Executive of Milton Keynes College, said its transformation into a technical excellence college was "really exciting".

"We will be working with an alliance of seven further education colleges to help develop the courses that are needed," she added.

"We will be able to purchase new resources and build more space for students to work in."

Alexander said plans to build a Universal Studios theme park near Bedford could mean plenty of job opportunities for students with the right skills.

"We will work very closely with Universal Studios to see what sort of curriculum they need, so that students can get jobs in areas such as data analysis and game design.

"We can take an existing qualification or develop a new one so that we meet the needs of employers," Alexander added.

Smith said that students would leave with skills that would be "snapped up by Universal Studios".

Millie Tysom is studying for a Digital Software Development T-Level, a two-year course equivalent to three A-levels, focusing on programming, design and software production.

She said it would "mean so much to be able to have this [money] available to more people".

- Tony Fisherand, and Nicola Haseler, in Milton Keynes (BBC)