Greater Manchester Colleges awarded £8.4 million to address skills gaps

The city-region’s nine FE colleges, including the Trafford & Stockport College Group, have been awarded over £8.4 million to address skills gaps across Greater Manchester.

The funding from the government’s Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) will focus on key sector areas: education workforce, construction, health, digital, and engineering & manufacturing with main cross-cutting themes of digitization and net zero, and is part of GMCollege’s response to the city-region’s Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP).

The capital investment is being made in green technologies, anatomage tables and electric vehicles along with the creation of immersive learning environments, such as the one pictured.

The projects will see the colleges implement a collaborative approach to enhance the curriculum offer and open up new progression opportunities through the development of new courses, improved learner experience through AI and augmented reality and provide new technologies to teach. They will also develop software alongside teaching and learning resources to teach in the immersive learning environments, while upskilling the workforce and increasing employer contributions and partnerships.

A range of key partnerships will support the project such as Cisco, Manchester Digital, the Supply Chain Sustainability School, Greater Manchester Chamber, Greater Manchester Learning Provider Network (GMLPN), the Greater Manchester Institute of Technology, Greater Manchester Cancer Alliance and the Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership as well as other skills providers and regional employers.

Since the project has been launched a range of initiatives and events have been progressed including commissioning two hubs focused on Supply Chain Sustainability and the GM Professional Development for Technical Education and Skills. The ‘Leading for the Future’ leadership programme is now underway as well as CPD linked to the project’s major capital investments, while the GM Leading Change in Innovation in Education Conference is set to be hosted in March.

Anna Dawe, Chair of GMColleges explained:

“Businesses need a skilled workforce with the right technical skills to grow and succeed. Across sectors we have a raft of great jobs to fill, especially those emerging to support the development of the green economy and this new fund will allow us to ensure everyone across our region has access to the training they need to grasp these exciting opportunities.”

All nine General Further Education colleges in Greater Manchester are part of GMColleges including Bolton College, Bury College, Hopwood Hall College, Oldham College, Tameside College, The Manchester College, Trafford & Stockport College Group, Salford City College Group and Wigan & Leigh College, which collectively support 70,000 learners in the city-region.