NEW funding to support the national roll out of new T-Levels qualifications, as announced in the Autumn Budget, has been welcomed by the boss of a college group in Warwickshire – alongside a call for more funding for colleges.
WCG, formerly Warwickshire College Group – which runs colleges in Leamington, Warwick, Moreton Morrell and Rugby – is one of the pioneers in the introduction of T-Levels and saw the start of its first T-Level route in September.
The Digital T Level is now being offered by the college group and it has been approved to deliver the Health and Science, Engineering and Manufacturing, and Construction routes from September 2022.
The group’s chief executive Angela Joyce, CEO of WCG said: “Our college group was one of the first to introduce T Levels and we have a firm belief that the qualifications will be integral to the success of the future economy, locally, regionally and nationally.
“These are qualifications designed to generate the skilled workforce of the future. To make these courses a success, colleges need work closer with employers and we have already forged strong relationships with businesses in our region to support the delivery of T Levels.
“To do this, colleges need more funding. For the last two decades colleges have been the part of our UK education system that have seen largest scale funding cuts and this needs to be reversed to support the Government’s new post-16 education agenda.
“Colleges will deliver on training, reskilling and upskilling a UK workforce, provided Government supports us.
“We will continue to expand our T Level programmes but we need funding and investment to support the expansion.”
Also announced in the Budget was a pledge of further support for adult skills development in England, and further funding to continue a five-year-scheme to revamp and modernise colleges.
Ms Joyce added: “The additional funding for adult skills and retraining is welcomed. Life expectancy is continuing to lengthen with people’s working lives extending as a result and people will likely change careers several times in their lifetime.
“Adult reskilling should be as important as training young people when it comes to supporting the future economy. There are jobs now that didn’t exist 10 years ago and the same will be true 10 years from now.
“We hope this change in approach from Government will continue allowing colleges to play their vital role in plugging skills gaps.”
