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20 successful applications from the College
Collaboration Fund to help drive up standards and level up
opportunity across the country.
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Fund will support colleges to work together to overcome
challenges and improve education and training for their
students.
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Part of work to transform and build a high quality
further education system that provides the skills that
individuals, employers and the economy need to grow.
Colleges across the country will soon benefit from a cash
injection to boost standards so more people can access high
quality education and training and get the skills they need to
progress, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister announced today (23 July).
20
applications have been successful and will receive a total of
£5.4 million from the College Collaboration Fund (CCF) between
them.
The fund, which builds on the
strengths of the Strategic College Improvement Fund,
will see groups of colleges collaborating to share good practice,
knowledge and experience to drive up the standard of education
and training on offer to their local communities. This will
include specific support to develop high
quality digital content to provide improved remote and blended
learning, make sure students affected by coronavirus can catch-up
on lost learning hours and also to prevent young people from
becoming NEET (not in education employment or training).
, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister
said:
“I’m delighted to announce the 20 applications that have
been successful in securing funding from the College
Collaboration Fund.
“Now more than ever, it’s vital that colleges
can support their students to gain the skills they need to
progress and employers and our economy need to grow. This fund
will help colleges work together, to develop cutting edge digital
approaches to online learning , to overcome new challenges and
continue to deliver high-quality education and training for the
communities they serve.
“The past few months have been a challenging time for the
sector, but they have gone above and beyond to support their
students. This additional funding will help to support further
collaborative work as we move forward. I look
forward to hearing more about their progress and wish them all
the best.”
David Corke, Association of Colleges’ Director of
Education & Skills Policy said:
“The fund is very welcome in the context of the pandemic
and the need for the college sector to navigate unprecedented
rates of change to every aspect of their work has never been more
important. The grants will help support collaboration and the
sharing of innovative good practice in the college sector.
Importantly, developing digital content, providing catch up
support, engaging vulnerable learners and addressing mental
health and wellbeing will all be vital ways colleges will use
this money to support students to transition into college or
their next academic year.”
The fund will play an important role alongside the
Government’s National Leaders of Further Education programme,
which is also designed to help boost standards throughout the
further education sector. The programme sees a team
of high-performing college leaders working together to share
knowledge and expertise to provide specialist help to
colleges across the country that need support to
improve.
In response to an independent review carried out
by Dame Mary Ney, which looked at
how the Government monitors colleges’ finances and financial
management, the Department for Education recently set out
proposals to strengthen relationships with colleges and promote
better planning to make sure communities get the skills they
need. The CCF will support this work by enabling the
sector to take ownership and help develop a culture of learning
and sector led improvement.
The announcement follows the Education Secretary’s FE
speech where he pledged to publish a White Paper
this autumn that will set out plans to build a high
quality further education system that will provide the skills
that individuals, employers and the economy need to grow.
