The Business Secretary, the Rt. Hon Dr. Vince Cable MP, praised Burnley College yesterday (17/11/11) in a speech to the Association of Colleges one year since the Government launched its Skills Strategy.
Vince Cable described Burnley College as making a ‘significant contribution’ to skills development adding his ‘conviction has only grown over the past year as a result of talking to students on foundation degrees at Burnley College.’
Mr Cable added: “These colleges have a strong grasp of regional business needs and the flexibility to meet them. They are attuned to local employers – including smaller firms – and, as a college principal said to me the other day, they are adept at offering courses that fit with the rhythm and patterns of people’s lives: around family, work and other responsibilities.”
The high-profile praise comes on the back of a year in which the OFSTED declared ‘outstanding’BurnleyCollegetripled the number of students gaining an A* grade and achieved a 99.7% pass rate.
Vince Cable MP visited BurnleyCollege in June this year as part of UK Manufacturing Dialogue North West Summit – a drive to promote manufacturing in the North West.
Burnley has double [20%] the North West average [10%] employed in ‘skilled trades’ and almost double [18%] the NW average [9%] employed specifically in aerospace.
You can read Vince Cable’s full speech by clicking here.
