Cable shares £50m college funding pot

Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled a list of 149 colleges across England that have been awarded a share of £50m in funding for the development of new buildings and renovation of existing ones.

Each college will receive a £225,000 Renewal Grant, on the condition that each college raises twice that amount themselves. The remaining £20m will be split among successful bidders for the Enhanced Renewal Grant, taking some awards up to £1m.

Mr Cable said: “Improving people’s skills is a key part of this Government’s plans to secure economic growth, and colleges are right in the frontline of this challenge. We want them to be able to attract students and give them the best learning experience possible.

“Helping colleges modernise their facilities will give them a much-needed boost at a time when education could not be more important, and I am glad we have been able to provide them with this support.”

The Department For Business, Innovation and Skills announced at the end of May that £50m was being reallocated from the Train to Gain programme, with grants to be provided by the Skills Funding Agency. Eligibility was restricted to colleges that had received less than £5m in grants since 1 April 2010, and were selected through an assessment and moderation process in agreement with key opinion formers. Bids also needed to show that planned building projects would be completed in time for the start of the 2011/12 academic year.

John Hayes, Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning Minister, said: “We are keeping our promises to the sector by providing colleges with the funding that will make a real difference to thousands of students, lecturers, and the communities they live and work in.

“When I announced this investment earlier this year, I wanted to show that we are proud of our colleges. The projects they build with this money will give their staff and students even more to be proud of. This is good news for all those that want to improve their skills and get on in life, good for FE and good for the communities colleges serve.”

Julian Gravatt, Assocation of Colleges’ assistant chief executive, said: This announcement will be good news for all our College members who have been successful in their bids for this much-needed capital investment, particularly in the current economic climate.

“The extra £50m of renewal funding is a helpful small-scale contribution for many Colleges who need to modernise their facilities in order to provide their students with the best learning environment possible. The process has shown that Government would get good value for money if it backed them.”

The full list of 149 colleges will be published on the Skills Funding Agency website.

Nathan Brown

(Pictured: Business Secretary Vince Cable)