More and more businesses are recognising the long-term value of trained staff and realising the importance of creating apprenticeship opportunities. Bournville College supports a wide range of employers across the UK with their apprenticeship training, enabling the businesses to develop their workforce.
Organisations working with Bournville College recognise that apprenticeships offer a flexible and cost-effective training solution that can be tailored to suit their business needs. A good example is DHL Freight in Dunstable, who partnered with Bournville College to offer apprenticeships in logistics and administration to its office staff. Cathy Kirk, Customer Services Manager said: “Apprenticeships are an excellent idea. They enable us to shape up the skills of our employees in the way that suits our business. All in all, skilled employees help to raise standards within a company itself.”
Other employers are finding that apprenticeships help them with improving the company’s long-term prospects and investing in their future workforce. Bournville College has been helping DPE Automotive in Birmingham train its future workforce by offering apprenticeships in press tooling maintenance and electrical and mechanical maintenance. Richard DuRose, Manufacturing Manager reflected: “In the current climate, it is very difficult to find skilled people. We feared that the skills of our sector may disappear with ageing workforce and that’s what prompted us to engage in apprenticeships and invest in the new generation of employees.”
Even SMEs, such as Expert Plumbing from Oldbury, have discovered benefits of apprenticeship training with Bournville College. ‘Not only do the apprentices learn the basics and theory at College but we can teach them the practical side. We can train an apprentice from start to finish so they gain as much experience as possible’, said Craig Wooldridge from Expert Plumbing.
With the training record of over 240 apprentices in over 70 organisations in the last academic year alone, Bournville College is a preferred training provider for many employers. It has a long standing working relationship with organisations across the UK, providing a range of flexible employee training solutions in a variety of industries and sectors. Excellence of the College’s partnership work has been formally recognised by OfSTED earlier this year. They recognised outstanding partnerships across the college, but in particular partnerships with employers in this sector were described as highly productive.
“Our working relationship with Bournville College is an excellent one and we’re looking forward to continuing the partnership’, commented Steve Stanier, Senior Human Resources Manager at Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust where a number of apprentices were able to join the hospital last year.
“More employers should take responsibility for the training and development of their existing or future workforce and with the right funding and training provider this can be easily achieved,” added Steve.
Whatever the size of your organisation, Bournville College specialises in delivering apprenticeships within a range of industries such as logistics, railway engineering, manufacturing, business administration, healthcare, construction and many more. To discuss the requirements of your business, call Jennifer Johnson, Apprenticeship Programmes Manager at Bournville College on 0121 222 5656 or email apprentice@bournville.ac.uk.
