Rural skills education to receive extra funding at Brinsbury College, Pulborough

Brinsbury College in Pulborough, part of the Chichester College Group has been delivering courses in vital rural trades amongst the many courses it has to offer.

The Department for Education confirmed that Chichester College will receive a share of over £100m of capital funding from September 2024. This is in addition to funding that all providers receive to purchase the latest industry standard specialist equipment, to ensure young people are work ready when they graduate from their T Level.

Successful projects include robotics labs to support Digital T Levels, a mock courtroom to support the Legal Services T Level, and vet consultation rooms and VR simulation rooms to support Agriculture and Environmental & Animal Care T Levels.

T Levels, which have been designed with employers and include a 45-day work placement, are the centrepiece to reforms to technical education. They provide young people with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully move into the workplace – and as part of that students should be taught in world class facilities, on industry standard equipment.

T Levels are a key part of the ladder of opportunity for young people, to help them climb each rung of their chosen careers. Last summer saw the first cohort of T Levels students complete their courses – a huge milestone. There are now 16 T Levels available, and student numbers have nearly doubled in the current academic year 2022/2023, compared to the previous year.

Further information on T Levels capital funding can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/t-levels-capital-fund.

Andrew Griffith MP said: “This is great news for Chichester College and Brinsbury and will give them an opportunity to scale up its T Level offer. High quality technical education for young people, especially in important rural trades, is vitally important for the local economy.