Ex-mining town sells itself to the world’s students

Barnsley College’s plans could mean launching a range of engineering-based degree programmes – including mining – for overseas students from September next year.

It is also set to increase the number of degree level courses it offers to home students as part of a Government drive to open up the country’s higher education sector to colleges who can run courses for fees of below £7,500 a year.

Principal Colin Booth said: “If we do decide to go ahead with international students we would appoint a manager to oversee this and we’d be looking at three or four programmes around engineering.”

He told the Yorkshire Post the expansion into international recruitment and running more higher education courses would look to build on the colleges’ track record of delivering programmes of work-based learning.

“This country’s education system has got a fantastic reputation,” he added. “When a student comes in to study in this country that is effectively an export. China, India and Brazil all have plans to invest heavily in education but they do not have the infrastructure in place to do it themselves. We have and we can sell it as UK Plc.”

Mr Booth said he was keen for Barnsley to play a part in attracting foreign students and he told the Yorkshire Post the “broader ethnic mix” of people on campus would be good for both the college and the town.

However he accepted that attracting international students to Barnsley would be a challenge.

“Barnsley is going to be a tough sell but what Barnsley needs to do is sell itself. It is a great place and it needs to work on its reputation. We want to be a part of that.

“I have been in this job for three years. I had never been to the town before I came here but when I arrived I realised it has a lot going for it,” he added.

Barnsley College also plans to increase the number of home students on degree level courses as a result of the Government’s higher education reforms.

With university fees soaring up to £9,000 from 2012, Ministers have announced that 20,000 places would be secured for providers who can deliver courses for less than £7,500 a year.

This is expected to lead to an increase in the number of further education colleges – such as Barnsley – and private providers delivering degree courses instead of traditional universities.

Mr Booth said colleges like Barnsley would be better placed to deliver work-based learning to degree level than universities because of the existing relationships they had with employers. The college has been running a bespoke foundation degree with Sheffield Forgemasters which is now being rolled out into other firms.

He also predicted increasing numbers of students would turn to advanced work-based learning rather than traditional degrees as fees rise to £9,000 a year

He said: “If you finish your A-levels, how much is a company going to have to pay you to join them on a training programme instead of going to university if this is going to save you £9,000 a year? I would say not very much.”

Barnsley College currently has 50 students on higher education programmes but plans to expand this to 200 in the short term.

Mr Booth said the college would not look to compete with the University Centre Barnsley, run in the town by Huddersfield University.

“We would look to run more work-based learning rather than move into areas that they cover. We have a good relationship with the university centre and want more higher education in Barnsley and not to be competing for the same students.”

The expansion plans come as Barnsley College prepares to move into its new £48m home in September – two years after it feared it would be left in temporary buildings.

The college was hit by a funding blunder in 2009 by the Learning and Skills Council which saw 79 rebuilding plans halted after they had been given initial approval.

It had already decommissioned its main building and was about to have it demolished when the crisis was announced.

It had also taken on a £10m loan to help pay for the development.

Mr Booth said: “The LSC asked us if we would go ahead with demolition. It was clear they did not want us to but the building had been stripped, we had done intrusive asbestos work, it would have cost us millions to move back in. I couldn’t see what was to be gained by not knocking it down so we went ahead.”

Months later Barnsley became one of 13 colleges across the country, among them Kirklees College in Huddersfield, which were treated as priority cases and were given funding to start building work.

Staff are in the process of moving into the new £48m building which will officially open in September.

Mr Booth added: “The worst case scenario for us was that we would have been left in temporary buildings but we know that others colleges are in this position now.”

The new building will be used as a base for vocational courses and is separate from the college’s sixth form.