Higher Technical Education

The Heart of the South West LEP is pleased to be one of only two areas in the country working with the Learning and Work Institute (L&W) to explore ways to boost demand for higher technical education at Level 4 and 5 and create provision to meet this demand. L&W has been commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to do this study.

This project comes at an exciting time of change in higher technical education, with the Education Secretary recently announcing measures to increase the take-up and improve the quality of this provision. The government is also planning to publish a White Paper in the autumn, which will set out plans to reforms to build a world-class further education system in Britain. The Department for Education is engaged with this project, and its findings will help to inform their policy thinking. The insights will be particularly important as we consider how the Heart of the South West can recover from the impacts of Covid-19 and could also form the basis of a demonstration pilot.

Here in the Heart of the South West, the project will focus on Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering. Our stakeholder views are really important, and their participation will be an opportunity to shape the future learning and development offer. Training providers, employers and other key stakeholders are taking part to ensure the full range of views are captured.