South Lanarkshire College event showcases Future Jobs with visit from local MSP

To celebrate Scottish Apprenticeship Week and support a Step into Future Jobs Careers Fair, Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, visited South Lanarkshire College recently.

During the visit Graham spoke with local employers, students, staff and College Partners to find out more about the brilliant work and opportunities in both Apprenticeships and to encourage students into the Future Jobs market, which is aimed at sustainable practices, particularly within the Trades.

During the week the Lanarkshire College has hosted a range of events, external visits and showcases which highlight both the importance of Apprenticeships for our students, employers and economy and also the Future Jobs market; which focuses on sustainable practices.

The event, which was hosted in partnership with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, attracted over 100 visitors and 25 employers on the day including Morrison Construction, McCrae Training, Sunbelt Rentals, Antibody Analytics, Lang O’Rourke, NHS Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Power and many more.  

The event aimed to provide secondary school pupils and those looking for a new career with a wider understanding of the Future Green & Sustainable Jobs Sector and Industries and the potential career opportunities in those fields, whilst hopefully inspiring them to select the relevant subjects and pathways at school that can lead to the sector. This also tied in with Scottish Apprenticeship Week, where the College has been celebrating the importance of Apprenticeships. The College currently enrol in the region of 1,000 Modern Apprenticeships each year; this amounts to around 20% of the total student enrolment count.

They offer Modern Apprenticeship programmes in Construction Trades, Health and Social Care, Leadership and Management. Hairdressing, Business Administration, Travel Services and Accounting each year.

In addition to Modern Apprenticeship opportunities the College enrolled 133 Foundation Apprenticeship students in 2022/23 in partnership with South Lanarkshire Council. Foundation Apprenticeships help young people gain valuable, real-world work experience and work-based learning while they are still at school.

Nicola Murray, Curriculum Manager for Construction commented: “It was great to welcome Graham Simpson to our Step Into Future Jobs Careers Fair this week. The event was a great opportunity for employers to speak with potential recruits, for businesses to network and find out more about good practice in sustainable practices.

At South Lanarkshire College we work closely with partner organisations Nationally and locally to ensure that we are supporting the economy, helping businesses thrive and our students to be as successful as they can be after graduating from College. This event has really showcased the brilliant partnerships we have at South Lanarkshire College.

We are a key provider of Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland in partnership with Skills Development Scotland, and we provide one of the highest numbers of construction Apprenticeships each year in Scotland.

The College has its largest ever apprenticeship contract with Skills Development Scotland for the academic year 2022-23 and had 123 new starts this year alone.”

Scott Purdon, from DYW Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire added: “Step into Future Jobs was DYW LED’s feature event for Apprenticeship Week 2023 and it has been and an amazing event to pull together with our partners at South Lanarkshire College. We are looking to make this an annual event to highlight the importance of Green and Sustainable jobs and career pathways for our young people.  Future jobs and sustainability is not where we are heading to, it is the here now and very much part of the DYW agenda for highlighting to our schools”

MSP for Central Scotland, Graham Simpson said: “This was a great event which offered a wide range of opportunities for students.

“It highlighted the enormous value of apprenticeships and I applaud the college and the companies who took part in it for their engagement.

“Apprenticeship Week is a great way of showcasing this first class route into work and training in which colleges play a crucial role”.