Member Article

Engineering College annouces major growth following rebrand

Liverpool City Region’s leading engineering skills college has celebrated the official launch of its new brand with a surge in new business.

The Engineering College in Birkenhead opened its doors at a special launch event after also undergoing a £500,000 refurbishment alongside its rebrand. The Engineering College CEO Terry Weston announced to guests that the college was experiencing a sharp rise in new client wins, including its latest deal with a metal recycling firm employing more than 4000 people.

Mr Weston told the audience that the new brand is proving effective at changing attitudes towards the college which had previously been seen as maritime only focused.

“We’re delighted to report 18 new clients have been attracted to the college since we had a soft launch of our new brand in the Autumn,” he said. “We now work with more than 90 clients, ranging from large private businesses to SMEs, and train more than 330 apprentices.

“This demonstrates the wide range of engineering companies we can work with and courses we offer. No other college on Merseyside can match the standard of our engineering facilities or range of engineering courses. We are actively looking to further expand into wider areas of engineering maintenance including: lift engineering, recycling and composites.”

Mr Weston added: “The college has been very successful but our profile needs to be higher and we want to be better understood by the marketplace. That was the purpose of our rebranding exercise. “And it appears to be working. More and more companies are recognising that our offer is much broader than the maritime industry. We can train apprentices and staff across sectors including construction, nuclear, petrochemical, renewables, oil and gas and the NHS. Our expertise is deep and wide ranging.”

Labour MP and Liverpool Region Metro-Mayor candidate Steve Rotheram was guest speaker at the event. He emphasised the importance of engineering skills training to the region. “It was a great pleasure to be invited to the Engineering College to address guests about apprenticeships. I am a former apprentice myself, so know the value of investing in quality training,” he said.

“I outlined my vision for our area and explained what the skills agenda will look like if I am elected as Metro Mayor on May 4. I also announced my intentions to roll out ‘gold standard’ and degree level apprenticeships across the Liverpool City Region so we can help lift the aspirations of all our young people.

“My approach as Metro Mayor will be to develop our own industrial and economic strategies that will help create the high value, high skill, high wage apprenticeship and employment opportunities we desperately need to stimulate growth.”

The launch event was also an opportunity for The Engineering College and its staff to promote its strong role connecting industry and education, as well as discussing the new Apprenticeship Levy.

To mark National Apprenticeship Week the launch also ‘showcased’ a number of the college’s ‘star apprentices’, from first year apprentices through to HNC level students following Higher Apprenticeships.

Mr Weston said a key strength of the Engineering College is that it can also offer pre-trained ‘work ready’ apprentices for employers. He said: “We can save employers time and money by having a constant supply of apprenticeship applicants who have already undertaken our rigorous pre-apprenticeship programme.”

For more information on apprenticeship courses contact the college on 0151 666 1028 or visit the website www.theengineeringcollege.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Pinnington .