Glasgow Clyde College Highly Commended in SEMTA Skills Awards

Glasgow Clyde College’s commitment to engineering and its successful partnerships with the likes of Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, ScottishPower and Doosan Babcock has earned the institution a ‘Highly Commended’ award in the training partner of the year category at the British industry awards.

The college, which is Glasgow’s leader in partnership working with industry, was the only UK college and the sole Scottish finalist to be shortlisted in the SEMTA Skills Awards 2016.

SEMTA – the Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies Alliance – is a not-for-profit, employer-led organisation that aims to enable the UK engineering industry to compete on the global stage. Its annual awards are the most prestigious in the industry and indicate the leading players in British engineering.

The honour was awarded to Glasgow Clyde College just weeks after two of the college’s other partnerships were recognised by Skills Development Scotland at Scotland’s Modern Apprenticeship Awards. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde won The Public Sector Employer of the Year Award whilst BAE Systems Naval Ships was named as the runner-up in the Large Employer of the Year Award category.

David Innes, Director of Faculty for Engineering and Built Environment at Glasgow Clyde College, was delighted to see the college recognised by SEMTA.

He said: “To be nominated as a finalist alongside the likes of Babcock International, Airbus and Lockheed Martin was very pleasing, and to emerge with a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade only serves to recognise all the hard work of both staff and students at Glasgow Clyde College. SEMTA have acknowledged the size and scale of our modern apprenticeship scheme, which has increased dramatically during the last two years in terms of the number of industry partners and apprenticeships we support.

“For us, our offering is about making sure apprentices are matched with the correct academic level and that they are industry-ready. We continue to invest in the right equipment for employers across our three campuses, and companies are coming to us to ask about training their apprentices.”

The college has invested £300,000 during the last two years in state-of-the-art engineering equipment and technology that meets industry requirements. Further investment is planned in order to ensure Glasgow Clyde College remains at the forefront of engineering training in Scotland.

Recently, the college has become the new supplier of modern apprentice training for Aggreko UK in Scotland. It has also collaborated with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to provide training for the health body’s first engineering apprentices in more than 20 years. 

The image attached shows, left to right:

• Graeme Whiteford (BAE Systems HR Early Careers Manager)
• Jim Hannigan (Doosan Babcock Director Service Technology)
• Alex Linkston (Glasgow Clyde College Chair of Board of Management)
• Nicole Rinaldi (I-Mech-E Senior Business Development Manager)
• Alan Gallacher (NHS Greater Glasgow Sector Estates Manager)
• Alistair Rodgers (Glasgow Clyde College Head of Engineering)
• David Innes (Glasgow Clyde College Director of Faculty)
• Karen Wright (ScottishPower Workforce Programmes Manager)
• David Campbell (Rolls-Royce Apprentice Development Manager UK)