Flagship national college for HS2 dissolved and re-launched
The flagship national college for HS2 has been officially closed by ministers after facing insolvency and relaunched as a subsidiary of the University of Birmingham.
The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI), which has campuses in Birmingham and Doncaster, announced today that its FE corporation dissolved on 29 April.
It has now been reformed as a new institution, part of the University of Birmingham.
The new NCATI will produce professionals to lead Britain’s future rail, transport and infrastructure workforce.
Professor Tim Jones, Provost and Vice-Principal at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our collaboration with NCATI is a unique project, which the University of Birmingham is particularly well-placed to deliver. We’re looking forward to securing a bright new future for learners, industry partners and local communities, using our internationally-recognised expertise in railway education to deliver the next generation of skilled workers into the sector.
A new principal, Ian Fitzpatrick, has been appointed to lead the College.
He said: “I’m extremely proud to be joining NCATI and to have the opportunity to work with a great team on its next phase. I am looking forward to continuing to build the reputation of the College so that it is the focal point for skills development in the sector; as well as creating and delivering an innovative high-quality provision that is ambitious and inclusive. I’m excited to start supporting our learners to reach their full potential and fulfilling the needs of employers and stakeholders.”
HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said: “The new National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure will provide valuable training, new skills and real opportunities for people entering the sector for the first time, as well as those seeking to retrain.
“We will continue to work closely with the College as it strives to attract a diverse range of talent to the transport sector.”
Last year, the HS2 College was placed in supervised status after the Further Education Commissioner found that it could be be facing insolvency.
A report into the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) said that the college’s board had been given on advice on how to operate while facing insolvency and that “radical change” was “urgently required”.
The college has been surviving on government handouts of £4.55m which came forward so that it could sign off its 2017/18 accounts. The Commissioner found that 72% of the college’s turnover was spent on 12 senior roles.
Enrolment had been a huge problem for the college; as of December 2019 it had just 216 and 94 full-time students – way below the 761 apprentices and 263 full-time students its 2019/20 budget was based upon.
The college blamed the shortage on “uncertainty” around the future of HS2.
