Staffs Uni gets £1m to develop the local workforce

STAFFORDSHIRE University has been awarded almost £1m in its bid to help businesses to grow.

The university was one of just 16 institutions invited to bid for Workforce Development Transition Funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and one of six which were invited to think big and bid for a million.

Having successfully bid for £963,320, Staffordshire University plans to spend the money over the next 18 months on a number of initiatives aimed at developing the local workforce and recruiting more work-based learners.

It plans to work with 35 private sector partners and to recruit an extra 400 students on learning programmes. It also intends to create new programmes in partnership with employers to support them in developing their workforces.

Sarah Tudor, the university’s employer engagement manager, said: “This will enable employers to develop their workforce and access the funding that enables the university to develop courses tailored to their needs.

“The success of our bid is to do with the fact that we’ve got strong evidence of our work with businesses. There are challenges but we have said specifically that we’ll work with the private sector and while we’re not limited geographically we would like to focus our resources in Staffordshire.”

In recent years Staffordshire University has delivered courses to a range of employers across public and private sectors including Staffordshire County Council,  Staffordshire Police, Alstom UK, Britvic and Alton Towers.