Article written by Michael Bretherick, Vice Principal, Hartlepool College of Further Education, July 06).

“The world of employment is often a challenging world for young people to enter, with many finding it difficult to gain the specialist vocational training they require to give them the best possible start.

In an effort to make this transition easier, the Learning and Skills Council has established a network of 400 Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE), which each offer dedicated training for a specific occupational sector.

There are 16 CoVE centres in the North-East, all recognised to have the facilities, skills, experience, staff and curriculum, to deliver a high standard of education and training to their industry. They range in speciality from construction and business management, to hospitality and health.

Several centres, including Hartlepool College of Further Education (HCFE), now offer specialist training for the engineering industry - including engineering design, training for the process and manufacturing industry and aerospace and allied engineering technologies.

These providers uphold a long tradition in engineering training and, like the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership, continually work with employers in a joint enterprise, to improve productivity, raise skills levels and boost competitiveness.

Alongside the Tees Valley’s other CoVEs, HCFE is working closely with business and industry, and have developed strong links with employers, higher education institutions and sector skills councils, to deliver a modern, relevant, technically advanced and employer-focussed curriculum.

In response to our employer relationships, and a wide-spread fear that the engineering sector will soon suffer skills shortages similar to those which hampered the construction industry, HCFE and the other CoVE centres are constantly adapting to changes within the sector, in an effort to provide the skills that are now needed in the modern engineering industry.

For example, Hartlepool College of Further Education, which is a Centre of Vocational Excellence for Technical Design and Engineering, now offers a range of high quality programmes that continually promote engineering excellence in emerging engineering professions.

These highly-specialised engineering fields, which may surprise people with a ‘traditional’ view of what engineering involves, include science and microscopy, multi-media design and rapid prototyping, which all require high quality training. It is our job as a CoVE to ensure that students receive this training to a very high standard.

By working with employers in mind, we are able to equip students for a long-term career in their chosen engineering profession and help provide companies with the skills they need to consolidate the Tees Valley as a centre of engineering excellence.”