Jobs promise at Black Country university technical college
Saturday 18th December 2010, 8:54AM GMT.
Forty new jobs will be created when the UK’s first university technical college opens in the Black Country, it was revealed today.
The teaching and support staff positions will be available at the multi-million pound engineering college, which will replace doomed Sneyd Community School in Bloxwich from next September.
Recruitment is likely to begin in the new year and education bosses also hinted today that more job opportunities could follow in the future.
Staff currently working at Sneyd, in Vernon Way, will not automatically be transferred to the UTC but have been invited to apply for the new jobs.
Up to 40 teachers have already lost their jobs at the school, with at least 10 compulsory redundancies.
Walsall Council leader Mike Bird said today: “The project is fantastic news. If we are creating jobs I’m all in support of that.
“It is going really well but we are in the early stages, there’s still a long way to go.”
The UTC, which will include the remodelling of the existing building in a project that could cost up to £8m, will cater for 480 students from across the Black Country, aged between 14 and 19.
Walsall College will be one of the new centre’s main sponsors, along with the University of Wolverhampton.
College spokeswoman Rebecca Molloy said: “There will initially be approximately 40 new jobs created to support the innovative curriculum and operation of the UTC. We will be able to share site remodelling options in the new year once funding has been secured.”
The UTC will specialise in engineering and manufacturing and will be the first of its kind in the country.
Black Country or South Staffordshire students wishing to join in September in Year 10 can apply through their local authority. Sixth- formers need to apply via Walsall College.
There were fears the college would be scrapped as part of the national spending cuts. But ministers have approved the initial plans and released further funding to education chiefs to complete the final details.
The closure of Sneyd, due to falling pupils and educational standards, was brought forward a year to accommodate the plans.
By Lisa O’Brien
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WITH ALL THESE CUTS TO SAVE MONEY HOW MANY COUNCILLORS WILL GO
AMSWERS ON A POSTCARD
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“Staff currently working at Sneyd, in Vernon Way, will not automatically be transferred to the UTC but have been invited to apply for the new jobs.”
Yeah, whatever. We all know they are obliged to advertise jobs in the interest of ‘fairness’, but whenever there is an internal applicant, the rest of us shouldn’t bother turning up to the interview.
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they do it that way to get rid of all the dead wood teachers in there …or you would have a new school/utc etc failing again because of the failing teachers being carried over..
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Please note that uppermost in the Sponsors’ priorities is the recruit the best staff to reflect the specialist nature of the UTC, it is important that the new school recruits excellent staff from academic/technical backgrounds to best reflect the highest ambitions and industrial practice that will be so important in meeting the School’s commitments to its communities. Therefore do be assured that every appointment for the new UTC will ensure that the best person is appointed with no obligation to ‘passport’ staff currently associated with Sneyd School. We openly invite you to attend our organised Roadshows scheduled for early on in the New Year to meet the Sponsors to find out more.
Amarjit Basi, Lead Sponsor
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“The UTC will specialise in engineering and manufacturing”
For what, just so graduates can come out and be put on New Deal programmes? So they can be forced to take menial jobs paying minimum wage, and wonder why they bothered. This region is shackled to it’s engineering past like a slave shackled to a plantation; it is a prisoner of it’s own narrow-minded outlook. What’s the betting that graduates won’t even stay in this region once they realise all the skills and education they could give in their lifetime isn’t valued or rewarded. This region wants the best but doesn’t want to give anything in return for it other than use people as scapegoats..
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Dear Anon, the focus will be on new generation engineering including product development and environmental sustainability. You make a very important point about the importance of students gaining relevant and local jobs, and this is where the involvement of local employers is a key feature of the planning of the UTC. We have had 19 local employers working with Spondors to inform the curriculum and will have a gathering of 100 companies at Walsall College on 24th January to support our development in readiness of Opening next September.
Lead Sponsor
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