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| KNOWLEDGE: Expert tuition from engineers in top teams will benefit students |
THE recent news of the partnership between Silverstone Circuits, the University of Northampton and Tresham College has not only highlighted the ambitions that the University of Northampton has for the future, but will give students new opportunities to learn from the experts. The agreement will see a new University Technical College open up within the next two years, with as many as 580 students between the ages of 14-19 benefiting from the new options that will come from it. Yesterday, I had the privilege to interview the vice-chancellor at the University of Northampton, Nick Petford who was very excited about the link-up and indicated that the future is very bright, not only for the people of Northamptonshire, but the options University Technical Colleges will bring in the future.
Simon: First question Nick, is how excited are you about the link-up between the University and Silverstone?
Nick Petford: I am very excited about it. We’ve had good relations with Silverstone prior to the UTC announcement. We’ve had people from fashion working down there, Science & Technology and students from the business school on events management courses but this is an opportunity to put it all together. It will really make a different for the people of Northamptonshire and outside as well. It won’t just be for Northampton, it’s going to be so successful that it will be a national project.
SW: For those unsure about the partnership, can you go into a bit more detail about the partnership within the three parties involved?
NP: As a University, we have four partner colleges who we work with on strategic stuff. One of them is Tresham College, who are based up in Corby and we started discussions with Corby a couple of years ago about a project that might have ended up with a University in Corby. That didn’t get very far due to funding but then the University Technical College came on the scene and because Tresham already do some teaching down at Silverstone around engineering. So, it was a chance for us to come together and start to think about how we can develop a really exciting partnership between Silverstone, the University and Tresham around a 14-19 year old curriculum.
SW: What is the planned date for opening this technical college?
NP: The planned date is 2012, but that’s what they (Central Government) want to happen. Whether that will be possible will depend on getting planning permission, on how to start building it, so all of that has to happen and whether that timescale is feasible, I don’t know. It might be 2013.
SW: What types of students are most likely to benefit from the link-up?
NP: Well, these UTC’s are actually schools. You start at 14 years old and you leave when you are 19, so it goes into the traditional A level territory. So, they will have to teach part of the National Curriculum and it will be teachers, not so much University staff. There will be standard GCSE’s, such as Maths and Science, but where we will be able to help is that through the maths curriculum and the science curriculum will be geared towards motorsports. I think the great thing as a kid will be sitting there thinking why are we learning this and you might get someone from McLaren saying; ‘You’re learning this because this is how our car works,’ and you will need to learn the maths of engines and aerodynamics, the pressures and so on. So, it’s a very exciting opportunity. It won’t be for everyone, but if you are saying why you are bothering with this, well you’re bothering because it’s what an employer wants and that employer could be Red Bull.
SW: How many people will be allowed to train for these opportunities?
NP: There will be about 550 at Silverstone. Whether it will be that number when it starts in 2012 or 2013, we don’t know. It will depend on how we build it up, so it might be a smaller intake to start with, but ultimately when it is all up and running, I’d say 550, maybe as many as 580 students.
SW: What is the background of University Technical Colleges, as I know this is something that you and the University are keen on pushing forward?
NP: The background comes from Lord Baker (Kenneth Baker) who was a minister in the government a few years ago. The whole philosophy behind them is to develop vocational learning and make it as excellent and as aspired as more traditional academic learning. There is still the feeling that the traditional A level/GCSE standard is where the more attention is and where the kudos lies, whereas doing the BTEC/Vocational route is not quite seen in the same standard. So this is an opportunity to make vocational education through UTC’s as well respected and well received as a more traditional academic route is seen today.
SW: Final question, with the link-up in place, how big is this news and how does it state the University’s future ambitions for 2012 and beyond?
NP: That’s a really good question. I think what is says is that it plays perfectly to the University’s ambition and strategy about being a vocational University and takes employability amongst its students very seriously and it wants to be a very different University from more traditional institutions. As I explained with the GCSE v Vocational route in schools, it’s similar in Universities across the UK. Some Universities offer more standard, academic courses and others go down the vocational route and sometimes, there’s been a bit of an imbalance. So, this give us a chance on the vocational side of things to really spread our wings and start to offer the life-changing opportunities which I think UTC’s can do. It’s spreading our mission, speaks to what we do and what we are about and also offer a pipeline for kids to come through from UTC’s to University if that’s what they want to do once they finish their UTC studies.
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