Building skills for work
The launch of the Marches Careers Hub in the last 12 months demonstrates the Marches LEP’s commitment to ensuring that our region has the skills and talent it needs to thrive in this fast-changing world.
The new hub was officially launched in April at an online event watched live by over 160 people.
The event, which was organised by the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership and The Careers and Enterprise Company, brought together employers, schools, colleges and enterprise advisers from across the Marches.
The livestream recording, which is available to watch on The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership YouTube channel, featured special guests — television presenter and author, Radzi Chinyanganya and live scribe, Hannah Williams from Scribble Inc.
The Marches Careers Hub focuses on improving careers outcomes for young people, sharing best practice and closing the gap between the worlds of education and enterprise.
It has created a flagship group of cornerstone employers across the region. These employers work with schools and colleges to deliver world class careers education. They also support the recruitment of new enterprise advisers who use their business experience to support the development of strategic careers plans in schools and colleges.
The last 12 months has also seen Hereford-based NMITE accept its first applications – heralding a new era in technology and engineering training not just for the Marches, but for the UK as a whole. The LEP has supported NMITE’s development with £10m of funding to help it meet its target of attracting 600 new learners within the next three to four years.
And we continue to work with further and higher education providers across the region to develop the skills both youngsters and older learners will need to compete in this digital age – and have won independent praise for this work this year.
The Local Skills report – produced independently by expert business consultancy Hatch – says the LEP has played a key leadership role in developing skills programmes.
Schemes supported by the LEP which were singled out for praise include the new Marches Centre of Excellence in Health and Social Care at Telford, developed by the University of Wolverhampton, the training provision at the new Centre for Cyber Security in Hereford and the development of a new automotive engineering training centre by Shrewsbury Colleges Group.