City College Plymouth has won the Devon Chamber of Commerce Business Award for ‘Education and Business Partnership’.
Recognising and rewarding excellence in business, the Devon Chamber of Commerce Business Awards is one of the region’s most contested and prestigious business award programmes. The winners were announced at the Chamber’s Annual Business Dinner held at the Moorland Garden Hotel in Yelverton on Friday 18 May.
The ‘Education and Business Partnership’ award recognises schools, further education colleges, universities and training providers that engage effectively with business. The College was praised for how they work with businesses to help their students gain an understanding of the world of work and develop the crucial employability skills that employers value.
The College has involved the region’s businesses in the design and development of both their courses and facilities, such as the £13million Regional Centre of Excellence for STEM. They also work with employers to create exciting new work experience models, which led to the ‘student takeover’ of the Duke of Cornwall in January – a first for the City of Plymouth.
Pauline Hands, Director of Marketing and Business Engagement at the College, said: “Receiving this award means a great deal to the College. As the premier provider of vocational, professional and technical training in the South West, we know the importance of working collaboratively with our business community to create the best experience for our students.
“Our business engagement activities are diverse, innovative and yield results. We work closely with local employers to ensure that our responsive student provision underpins priority sectors and addresses local skills gaps – ensuring that businesses have a well-trained workforce and that our students have the exact skills that employers are looking for in a new employee.
“It fills me with pride to have this work recognised by the business community through the Devon Chamber. I look forward to continuing and further developing our partnership with the region’s businesses in the future.”
Richard Stevens, Chair of the Devon Chamber of Commerce, said: “City College were well-deserving winners of this year’s Education and Business Partnership award. Many of our members enjoy a strong working relationship with the College which brings benefits to all involved. The College operates as more than just a training provider – they are also instrumental in the social networking calendar of the City and can offer businesses of all sizes the support they need to help their employees and organisation develop and grow.”
This award is the latest in a long list of accolades that City College has earned over the past year. The College was named the highest performing general further education college in the country for employer satisfaction (99.5% positive rating) and is ranked 1st in the southwest and 2nd in the UK for student satisfaction (2016-17 FE Choices Surveys). Furthermore, their Apprenticeship achievement rates are 14% above the national average, placing them 1st in the South West and 12th in the national rankings. They were also the only organisation in Plymouth to be awarded Gold by the Teaching Excellence Framework for its higher education provision (June 2017).
As a winner of the Devon Chamber awards, the College will automatically be considered for the national Chamber awards which are shortlisted in September. The winners will then be announced at a sumptuous gala dinner in London in November.
Those businesses who are interested in what the College’s award-winning Business Engagement team can do for their business are encouraged to contact 01752 305026 or e-mail [email protected].
