£13m funding bid to establish Institute of Technology in Sussex
There are plans for a state-of-the-art building at Crawley College
Plans to establish an Institute of Technology in Sussex have taken a significant step forward.
A consortium led by the Chichester College Group has put in a bid for £13 million in Government funding to enhance higher level skills training across the Coast to Capital Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) region.
The investment would create new cutting-edge facilities for higher level technical training at Crawley College, with a focus on digital and sustainable technologies across a number of sectors including engineering and construction.
Partners include the University of Sussex, University of Brighton and North East Surrey College of Technology (Nescot).
The proposal put forward has been successful in passing a highly competitive first stage and has been shortlisted to a final competitive stage.
The proposed Institute of Technology (IoT) would include a new state-of-the-art hub housing engineering and digital ‘Learning Factories’ with specialist satellites for delivery at locations across the region, from East Surrey and the Gatwick Diamond to rural West Sussex and coastal communities.
Julie Kapsalis, Managing Director of Chichester College Group, said:
“Our IoT will create an exciting new partnership between higher education, further education and employers to deliver an innovative new curriculum which will address the region’s current and future skills needs.
“Working in collaboration with the Universities of Sussex and Brighton and Nescot, we’ll be sharing the best of higher education research and teaching with vocationally-driven further education colleges.
“This reflects our commitment to raising aspirations and supporting widening participation in higher education, particularly for under-represented groups across society.
“We hope this will also help to address the disproportionate economic impact of Covid-19 in the region and the need to provide essential reskilling and upskilling opportunities to enable the region’s recovery.”
IoTs form a key part of the Government’s policy to increase higher technical education across the country, as it aims to encourage more people to continue studying as well as attracting people of all ages to upskill or retrain.
In particular, they are designed to spearhead the delivery of higher technical education in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, bring colleges and universities together with employers to equip local economies with a skilled workforce.
Sue Baxter, Director, Innovation & Business Partnerships at the University of Sussex, added:
“The University of Sussex is keen to play a strong role in the speedy recovery of our regional economy.
“Working with our core educational partners to equip local people for the skills of tomorrow through the Institute of Technology is one of a number of ways we are utilising our expertise to meet that challenge.”