College group seeks industry leaders to influence skills delivery

Industry leaders are being given the chance to influence a leading college group to ensure it is delivering the skills required to support the present and future economy.

WCG (formerly Warwickshire College Group) has seven colleges across Warwickshire and Worcestershire and is calling for more individuals from the regional business community to join its advisory boards.

Its colleges include Royal Leamington Spa College, Rugby College, Moreton Morrell College, Warwick Trident College, Pershore College, Malvern Hills College and Evesham College.

The group, which specialises in technical and vocational education, is aiming to strengthen its link with business, ensuring it is prepared to play a key role in post-Brexit and post-pandemic economic recovery.

Each of the seven sites within the group is supported by an advisory board – which look to identify with the varying economic needs and challenges the locality brings.

It is hoped that 10 new board members can be recruited across the group, including additional board members to advise on operations at Malvern Science Park.

The key responsibilities of advisory board members include advising on the educational character of the colleges and the needs of local stakeholders, while counselling on whether their curriculum at matches the areas economic needs.

They are also asked to guide strategies to improve performance and invited to help develop new links and strengthen existing links with communities.

Other roles include helping WCG to further understand the local labour market and support building more opportunities for student work experience, internship and post-college employment.

Angela Joyce, CEO of WCG, said: “We offer training and apprenticeships across a vast range of industry sectors and believe in building strong meaningful links between education and business.

“It is essential that we use all of our resources in the right places to support the economic recovery in the regions our colleges are based. 

“In order to do this we are inviting more people from the business community to join our advisory boards.

“They will help us to make certain that our colleges are delivering the skills required for businesses and supporting the workforce of the future. 

“By strengthening ties with WCG, it will also give advisory board members access to new contact networks and a direct link to the brightest young talent to support the future of their businesses.”

For more information about joining an advisory board at WCG contact executiveoffice@wcg.ac.uk and to find out more about the college group and its colleges visit www.wcg.ac.uk.