Northumberland College (www.northumberland.ac.uk) is on track to have its third successive year of improved results, following the decision to focus more heavily on core academic subjects at Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) level, increase industry-driven learning opportunities and strengthen commercial partnerships with local employers.

The college has recorded an 8% rise in apprenticeship achievement rates, a 4% increase in classroom learning and a 23% mprovement in the number of students gaining higher-education qualifications during the 2018-19 academic year.

This is in addition to being awarded silver by the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) for high-quality teaching on its HE provision, at a time when many universities achieved bronze or below.

There has been an increase in the number of older students studying apprenticeships through employer-designed programmes, as well as more mature students enrolling on HE courses to retrain, improve their knowledge and widen their career prospects.

One example is 32-year-old AkzoNobel employee Stephen Cook, who was the first to enrol on his company’s bespoke Maintenance and Operations Engineering Technician apprenticeship, designed specifically by the college’s business development team.

They worked in collaboration with the global paint manufacturer to create a training scheme that will support future production at its Ashington site and deliver key maintenance and engineering skills for the ‘state of the art’ facility.

Jeff Hope, head of manufacturing unit at AkzoNobel Ashington, said: “We always wanted to introduce an apprenticeship scheme with a training provider that could match our specific needs.

"By collaborating with Northumberland College, we’ve been able to develop a bespoke programme that addresses our skills gaps and ensures the future of the plant, while also strengthening the link to our local college. Its support in developing the apprenticeship has been outstanding.”