West Suffolk College has become the first College in the Eastern Region to be granted Quality Assured status by the National Skills Academy for Nuclear.
Dr Pat Upson CBE, Chair of South East and East Steering Group of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear and Steve Barrett, South East and East Regional Manager of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear, visited the College in July.
They presented a plaque to College Principal Dr Ann Williams, marking the College’s status as a preferred training provider for Sizewell and the industry’s supply chain across a range of sectors.
The National Skills Academy for Nuclear works with employers in the industry to identify skills needs, develop skills solutions and to implement a high quality standard of training and skills development throughout the nuclear sector. The Skills Academy also approves providers to deliver training to the standards required.
Steve Barrett said: “West Suffolk College brings a high quality provider network and a wealth of experience in high quality training delivery to the Skills Academy. This is reflected in the College’s achievement of preferred supplier status with Sizewell.
“Quality Assured training providers are very important to the Skills Academy, as they will be delivering training that meets the industry training standards set by nuclear employers, and will be recorded on the Nuclear Skills Passport scheme, to be launched to industry later this year.”
Dr Ann Williams said: “I see this as a very important step for the future and am very pleased that our College will be so well placed to deliver the training to meet the local needs of this industry sector.”
The procedure for becoming a provider is a rigorous one, with employer representatives on the approval panel which awarded the accreditation in order to ensure that training meets the standards required by employers in the sector.
Martyn Wagner, Vice Principal Business & Student Services thanked Business Development manager Elizabeth Bray for her work in producing the submission and Gary Clarke, Head of Faculty of Arts & Technology, and Technology staff members for organising the validation visit.