Fellowship five commended by Birmingham Met

FELLOWSHIP Awards have been presented to five education, business and industry figures at Birmingham Metropolitan College (BMET)’s Higher Education Awards Ceremony.

Richard Dakin, regional director at BAM Construction, was named a BMET Fellow for his “unending energy and passion when developing the college’s estate”. 

Joining him is James Lane, senior manager at Samsung Electronics UK, who has been instrumental in the successful development of the college’s onsite Samsung-sponsored academies, which provide skills training for the digital technologies, white goods and SMART technologies sectors. 

Brendan McCarthy, head of assembly at BMW Plant Hams Hall, was the third BMET Fellowship recipient in recognition of his role as an advocate of work-based learning and apprenticeship programmes.

Professor Helen Higson OBE, deputy vice-chancellor at Aston University, was recognised for supporting initiatives that help bridge the gap between further and higher education learning for BMET students.

A posthumous Fellowship was also awarded to Richard Graves who served on BMET’s governing corporation between 1996 and 2008. The quantity surveyor was said to be “committed to promoting further education among wider communities, while playing an instrumental role in the site transfer of the college’s Matthew Boulton Campus”.

Commenting on the Fellowship Awards, BMET principal and chief executive, Dame Christine Braddock DBE said:  “This year’s Fellows have helped to bring local education and business communities together, ensuring that thousands of our students fulfilled their career aspirations.”

The BMET Fellowships were launched by the college in 2011.