BEDFORD College and Tresham College of Further and Higher Education have announced plans to merge to become one of the most exciting colleges in the UK.
The new college will have an income of nearly £60m and 15,000 students, including 1,900 apprentices and 1,000 students studying at university level.
The first area of collaboration will be apprenticeships and representatives from both colleges are already in discussions to see how the new organisation will be able to work even more closely with their respective employers as a result of the merger.
“This is a merger that will create exciting new opportunities for the communities, students, apprentices, employers and staff we serve,” said Bedford College Principal and Chief Executive, Ian Pryce CBE. “The combined college will have the size and scale to ensure strong support services and financial security.
“Both colleges already work with a wide range of employers and local organisations and it is very much our intent to continue to grow our apprenticeship service, building on the expertise and experience within both teams.”
The colleges are due to merge on 1 August 2017, but apprenticeships will be delivered in partnership from 1 May 2017.
“Our focus is to make the merger process as smooth as possible for all our stakeholders,” said Julie Hoult, Head of Business Development at Tresham College. “Students, apprentices and staff at the colleges will continue as usual and current programmes will not be affected. By merging, the colleges will be able to develop new courses that support both the trades and more academic routes alongside offering a wide range of Apprenticeships to meet local business needs.”
Ioan Morgan, Interim Principal at Tresham College said: “I am delighted we have found such a well-respected partner college that shares our values in Bedford College. The future looks exciting for students and businesses both large and small who will benefit from local high quality provision that will be developed by combining expertise from both colleges.”
For more information about the apprenticeship support and training available from Bedford College or Tresham College visit their respective websites: www.bedford.ac.uk or www.tresham.ac.uk.
Julie Hoult and Keith Haynes from Tresham College receiving a supplier award, for their work on apprenticeships, from Weetabix.