WARRINGTON Collegiate is set to merge with three other Cheshire colleges to help create a “financially robust” college.
The merger follows a review of Further Education provision across Cheshire and Warrington involving four FE Colleges, South Cheshire College, West Cheshire College, Mid Cheshire College and Warrington Collegiate.
The four colleges have agreed to begin a merger process to create a new FE College for Cheshire and Warrington by 2018.
The recommendation for a FE College for Cheshire and Warrington follows a Joint Area Review of post-16 provision in the region led by the Government’s FE Commissioner Sir David Collins.
The proposal will build on the key strengths of each College, creating a stronger organisation delivering high quality education and skills training for learners and employers. The merger will also create a financially robust College that will be more efficient and effective than the existing separate Colleges and maximise the benefits to learners and make best use of public funding.
Sir David Collins, says: “A FE College for Cheshire and Warrington has the full support of all four Colleges, as well as local authorities and the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). The merged College can, through its collective strengths, ensure consistency of quality as well as sustainability and resilience against the challenges faced by all Colleges.”
The new College will have campuses across the three local authorities of Chester and Cheshire West, Cheshire East and Warrington and will provide even greater choice for learners and respond to the needs of the regional economy as a whole.
It is proposed that the creation of a FE College for Cheshire and Warrington, will be a phased approach starting with the merger of South Cheshire College and West Cheshire College by January 2017. Followed by Mid Cheshire College by August 2017 and Warrington Collegiate by January 2018.
Principal Nichola Newton
Nichola Newton, Principal and CEO of Warrington Collegiate, said: “The partner colleges have worked in a constructive and collaborative manner and in the best interests of Cheshire and Warrington to create this unique and exciting opportunity. The new College will be sustainable and resilient and will deliver maximum value for public investment, providing high quality education, training and skills development for learners, employers and the communities we serve for years to come.”
A merger steering group will be formed shortly with the task of working and consulting with all stakeholders in the development of proposals for the new College.
Macclesfield College of Further Education is currently reviewing their options, one is to join the proposed FE College for Cheshire and Warrington, and the other is to join the LTE group.
4 Comments
All sounds very positive but will a merger result in any admin or teaching staff job losses across the 4 sites ?
Probably Diz, that’s the general idea.
There will be some very worried people at the moment unsure of what their future holds then. I wonder how many will loose their jobs and when they will find out 🙁
It is to be hoped the education of the students does not suffer in the process.