Shropshire Star

Two Shropshire colleges to form closer ties

Two Shropshire colleges could federate – in a move which would see both remain independent but forge new links.

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This voluntary process was initiated by New College Telford, with Shrewsbury College receiving the news on Wednesday that it was the preferred choice. Staff at both colleges have been informed and the colleges will now enter into a period of discussions and consultation with staff and each other. Due diligence would then follow in a process which ideally will be completed by the end of the year.

It is understood that no jobs will be affected in the proposed federation.

The colleges are seeking to strengthen their expertise in their subject areas, while also growing community and employer links. The federation will see a pooling of resources, shared best practice and many more advantages that will benefit students at both colleges enormously.

Fiona O'Brien, acting principal at New College Telford, said: "We decided to seek a partner college to help New College realise its vision for growth, whilst accepting that under the current funding climate, working with a partner will improve our capacity to improve further.

"We decided to move forward with Shrewsbury College because we felt that their vision for the future was most closely aligned with our own, as well as being innovative and demonstrating areas of growth for existing subject areas and how they could be developed in the future at each campus.

"It's important to note we are still only in discussions and if both colleges agree to federate they will remain independent and any students applying to either college to start in September 2015 and 16 will be unaffected for the duration of their course.

"We are very excited to be in a position to discuss a move which would only strengthen both colleges and look forward to seeing where discussions lead over the coming months."

Principal of Shrewsbury College, Steve Wain, said he was delighted that the college's ideas for future growth and consolidation for the broader Shropshire area were in line with those of New College's.

He said: "This move is about protecting each college and consolidating our joint provision and we don't expect any teaching staff will lose their jobs as a direct result of these plans.

"The basis of working together is to have two well-established campuses in the largest two county towns and the plans show we can expect an extension of some areas

This is about a shared vision for the county and the creation of a £23 million group."

Mrs O'Brien added: "Each college already has a strong provision set for 16-18 year-olds, which we believe will complement each other well, and discussions so far have highlighted how each college could grow geographically as well as growing educational programmes including HE and professional qualifications if we federate."

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