31 August 2000

MERGER OF TRAINING CENTRES AND FE COLLEGES

"The merger of local Training Centres with Further Education Colleges is a major step towards ensuring that Northern Ireland’s people are equipped for a successful future," the Minister for Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment, Dr Sean Farren, said today.

The Minister was speaking at a special ceremony in Craigavon Training Centre to mark its merger with Upper Bann Institute of Further and Higher Education, one of nine such mergers that are due to take place tomorrow.

Speaking at the event in Craigavon the Minister said: "There are fundamental changes taking place in the economy today, changes which are placing new demands and challenges on what, how and where we learn.

"In particular, there is a need for everyone, whether in employment or looking for a job, to regularly update their skills and acquire new, work-related knowledge. This in turn puts an onus on the further education sector to provide vocational programmes that are relevant, accessible and affordable.

"Through the merger of Training Centres and Further Education Colleges, we are taking a major step towards ensuring that vocational training and education are complementary – tangible recognition that the dividing line between training and education will continue to dissolve."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. There are 9 Training Centres in Northern Ireland responsible, under Jobskills, for the delivery of training courses in a range of craft skills. The Centres are one of the main providers of full time, mostly off-the-job training for school leavers aiming for a career at craft level in construction, engineering and motor vehicle repair.
2. In 1997, Government commissioned a review of the relationships between Colleges of Further and Higher Education and the Training Centres. The review was prompted by the need to provide more coherent arrangements for vocational education and training and eliminate the scope for overlap between the two systems.
3. The report of the Review was published for consultation in September 1998. Its findings recognised the contribution of FE colleges and Training Centres to vocational skills training over many years but confirmed the view that there was unnecessary competition for public funding between these streams. The report also identified duplication and overlap in the provision of skills training in the areas in which Training Centres have traditionally concentrated viz. engineering, construction and motor vehicle repair. The review found less overlap between FE Colleges/Training Centres and the rest of Northern Ireland’s craft training infrastructure, which is mainly comprised of private or voluntary sector providers who tend to focus on those occupational areas where training is relatively less expensive.
4. The Review recommended that FE Colleges and Training Centres combine in a way which would effectively utilise the respective strengths of both organisations.
5. Following consultation, a decision was taken in October 1999 to merge Training Centres with local FE Colleges. Under the merger arrangements, some 120 Training Centre staff will transfer to FE Colleges on 1^st September 2000. In preparation for merger, and to minimise any disruption to their training programmes, responsibility for the training arrangements of some 2,500 Training Centre trainees transferred to the Colleges in April 2000.
6. The mergers which will take effect on 1^st September 2000 are as follows:

Felden TC (Newtownabbey) merging with East Antrim Institute

Newry TC Newry and Kilkeel Institute

Ballymena TC North East Institute

Omagh TC Omagh Institute

Enniskillen TC Fermanagh Institute

Maydown TC } North West Institute

Springtown TC

Craigavon TC Upper Bann Institute

Lisburn TC Lisburn Institute

Downpatrick Trng Unit East Down Institute

For further information please contact Simon Burrowes on 028 90 257831 or 07799711524.