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New £20m Centre is 'great deal' for Teesside

The boss of Middlesbrough College says its £20m Centre of Engineering Excellence is a major boost for the whole of Teesside.

The Middlehaven-based college was last week awarded a £6.5m grant from the Skills Funding Agency to go towards the new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Centre, which is expected to open in 2015.

The centre will meet the needs of employers across a wide range of sectors and produce a highly-skilled workforce for the future.

The college’s principle and chief executive, Mike Hopkins, told Bdaily: “This means a fantastic amount to the college, and even more importantly it means a great deal to Teesside and local employers, because it will give them a state-of-the-art STEM facility building on what we already have here.”

Middlesbrough College will have to find £13.5m to fund the new STEM Centre and it will take total investment in the college to just under £100m in the last six years.

Mr Hopkins is confident the investment, which is testament to an ambitious board, will reap rewards.

He added: “I’ve got a wonderful board of governors, and they’re ambitious. In 2010, when I arrived, they made a very self-conscious decision to take on austerity and not to roll over to it.

“So last year we built a £7.5m state-of-the-art A-level centre for Arts, and this year the board has supported a STEM investment.

“We’re spending a further £4 this summer on new welding workshops, next year we’ll be completing an extension to our A-level centre devoted to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects.

“And then the real Jewell in the Crown will come in 2015 and the fantastic STEM Centre devoted to advanced engineering, logistics and process industries.

“We are borrowing, but they understand the key values and the importance of training to Teesside, so they’re taking that risk.

“I don’t believe it is a risk in the end. We have a fantastic college with some fantastic staff, community and employers - I think it can only end in one thing and that’s success.

“It says this is a wonderful place that is very focused on its students and employers, absolutely understands the important role it plays - not just in producing courses and qualifications - but in producing jobs, opportunity and prosperity for Teesside.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .