Government approves 15 new University Technical Colleges

For the past four years, the Baker Dearing Educational Trust (BDT) has been working with the Department for Education, local employers, universities and further education colleges to develop a national network of UTCs. Lord Kenneth Baker, chairman of BDT, said: "The government continues to show its commitment to these new colleges for 14-19 year olds by expanding the national network. I am delighted that it has all party support and so many people right across the country want to open UTCs. "Companies up and down the country who need highly skilled technicians and engineers support UTCs which bind universities and industry into their establishment, governance and curriculum design. UTCs will help our economic growth. Almost 300 companies are supporting these 34 UTCs - an outstanding industrial commitment. We will continue to develop more UTCs to be announced later this year." The UTC movement is being backed by major players from British industry, including Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery and British Airways. Jenny Ball, HR director for Ford, which is supporting the East London UTC said: "Ford very strongly supports the principle of the University Technical College, enabling school children to concentrate on the engineering and technical disciplines while achieving their qualifications. We believe this will inspire and enable the next generation into achieving engineering excellence." Stephanie Fernandes from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) commented: "We hope that the expansion of UTCs will fill the hole created by the Government's decision to downgrade the value of the successful Engineering Diploma. UTCs will be at the heart of achieving improvements to the economy and supporting a pipeline of future apprentices, technicians and engineers. However, this expansion must be speeded up to ensure the pipeline doesn't dry up."