12 new UTCs to open doors this month

The number of University Technical Colleges will rise by 12 to reach 17 in total this month but “many more are needed” to fill the country’s skills gap, according to former education secretary Lord Kenneth Baker.

Some 44 UTCs are due to be opened by 2015, when they will be capable of training around 26,000 technicians and engineers.

Lord Baker, chairman of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust (BDT), which has been working to establish a national network of UTCs for the past five years, said: “I am delighted to see a further 12 UTCs opening this month. These innovative schools produce highly skilled young people who are desperately needed to further the economic growth of our country.

“The UTC movement is expanding rapidly. Of all the new schools opening in England only UTCs specifically aim to fill the skills gap of our economy. Many more are needed.”

The new UTCs opening in September 2013 each have a specialist focus. They are as follows:

Bristol Technology and Engineering Academy – Engineering, Environmental Technology
Buckinghamshire UTC (Aylesbury) – IT, Specialist Construction
Daventry UTC – Construction, Sustainable and Related New Technologies
Elstree UTC – Electronic Engineering & Digital Technologies, Entertainment Technologies & Crafts
Liverpool Life Sciences UTC – Life Sciences (health)
Royal Greenwich UTC – Construction, Engineering
Silverstone UTC – Motor Engineering
University Technical College Wigan – Environmental Technology, Process Engineering
UTC Plymouth – Advanced Manufacturing, Marine Engineering
UTC Reading – IT, Computer Science, Software engineering
UTC Sheffield – Advanced Engineering and Materials, Creative and Digital Industries
Visions Learning Trust UTC (Burnley) – Construction, Engineering

Natalie Thornhill

(Pictured: BDT chairman Lord Kenneth Baker)