Future Skills for Future Cornwall

The College’s 19+ career-driven learning options will now sit under the Future Skills Institute, with training developed in collaboration with employers and in line with the local skills strategies of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, Cornwall Council and Cornwall Chamber of Commerce.

The Institute includes the College’s University Centre and its 19+ Career and Professional Development offer, each of which is benefitting from multi-million-pound infrastructure investments to support the future skilled workforce of Cornwall.

The new £7.3 million Valency Building at Truro College played host to the special launch event on 19 May where it was officially opened as part of the innovative South West Institute of Technology.

Further investment comes in the form of the College’s £6.3 million Bodmin-based Health and Skills Centre that is due to open in early 2023.

Driven by sustainability and the long-term success of Cornwall’s economy, the Institute will also see the introduction of state-of-the-art electric vehicle labs at both Truro and Penwith campuses to support local industry to lead the electric vehicle revolution by 2030. The College’s new fleet of electric vehicles, including the latest Model 3 Tesla, was also on display at the event.

The University Centre Truro and Penwith was recently boosted by the College’s £492k Cornwall Space and Aerospace Technology Training Project, which is part-funded by the European Social Fund to support skills development for Cornwall’s £1bn space sector and the hundreds of jobs it is anticipated to create, ahead of the first space launch from UK soil at Spaceport Cornwall later this year.

The University Centre is also addressing the future needs of Cornwall’s NHS and care sectors, running Cornwall’s only Nursing Degrees and Nursing Apprenticeships locally, in partnership with Greenwich University, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

The College’s Future Skills Institute was launched at a star-studded event on Thursday 19 May, supported by special guest speaker Jason Bradbury from TV’s The Gadget Show.

Future Skills were epitomised as dignitaries, VIPs and the College’s 19+ students toured some of the UK’s best Engineering and Digital facilities in the Valency Building and the College’s range of new Electric Vehicles and training rigs.

Among the speakers was also Kathie Bowden, National Space and Careers lead at the UK Space Agency and former Truro College student Jamie Williams, who now works in Deep Space Operations for Goonhilly Earth Station. Jamie also inspired the audience with his career journey and tales of the awe-inspiring work he and the team at Goonhilly is currently doing with Artificial Intelligence and space technologies.

Martin Tucker, Principal at Truro and Penwith College, who addressed those gathered, said: “The Future Skills Institute puts Cornwall on the map as a destination to learn, work, recruit, invest and innovate in the future growth sectors of our economy.

“Our goal is to develop and retain highly talented people to work and live in Cornwall, with employer collaboration ensuring courses and qualifications meet the needs of quality local careers.

“In line with the Government’s Levelling-Up paper, that pledges the number of people successfully completing high-quality skills training will have significantly increased in every area of the UK by 2030, the Future Skills Institute is already responsible for multi-million-pound investments that are benefitting the future of Cornwall.

“Thanks to the Institute working in partnership with employers and embracing new technologies, Cornwall’s workforce is now at the forefront of regional and global innovation. The future starts here.”

See the future in the College’s new 19+ Career & Professional Development Guide. Employers seeking to benefit from the new projects are encourage to contact futureskills@truro-penwith.ac.uk or 01872 308000.