East Riding and Bishop Burton Colleges' Successful Institute of Technology Bid

  East Riding College is one of seven regional colleges that have received the green light from the Department of Education to work with two local universities to develop the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology (IoT).  This is one of only twelve IoTs nationally, which are designed to improve the provision of training in higher level technical skills to employers.

The IoT will bring investment of circa £10million of capital funding into the region for partners to invest in industry-standard equipment and to provide higher level technical training.  This massive training boost will enhance employment opportunities and ensure highly qualified employees for the regions’ employers.  For East Riding College this will mean further investment in high tech facilities at the College’s Flemingate campus in Beverley.

Other further education providers who are partners in the bid include lead applicant York College, Askham Bryan College, Bishop Burton College, Craven College, Scarborough TEC and Selby College.  The collaborative partners will work alongside the University of Hull and the University of York St John, to deliver the IoT in Yorkshire and the Humber.

In order to succeed, the collaborative bid required significant levels of employer support. Digital and Engineering businesses ViSR, CATCH, Skipton Building Society, GB Recruitment and ENGIE Fabricom recognised the need for investment in education to address their wider skills shortages and have been signed up as employer partners to be involved in designing the appropriate curriculum, supported by research from the universities. These employers will be part of the governance of the Yorkshire and Humber IoT to ensure continued collaboration and long term benefits for the region.

Helen Wooldridge, Assistant Principal at East Riding College said, “We are so pleased to see our collaborative bid succeed in attracting extra investment in skills training in the region.  What this means for the East Riding is investment that will see the future workforce acquiring higher level skills in the engineering and technical sector that employers in our area demand, and for which there is a projected skills shortage.”

Alison Birkinshaw, Principal of lead applicant York College said, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Further and Higher Education providers to develop this prestigious Institute of Technology.  This is a once in a generation, transformational opportunity which will focus on developing higher level technical skills across the York, North Yorkshire, East Riding and North Humberside area.  The work we do will be supported by significant capital investment and will improve the level of skills, increase productivity, and make a real difference to the success of the region.  We are hugely grateful to our employer partners for their support in putting together this bid and are really looking forward to making our plans a reality.”