Blackburn College

Blackburn College is the largest further education college in Pennine Lancashire and one of the largest providers of higher education for a college in England.

Established in 1888, and rated ‘Good’ for apprenticeships by Ofsted, people from all over Lancashire have developed their skills, re-trained and moved to higher levels of study with Blackburn College’s support.

The college provides learning opportunities to almost 12,000 students at all levels and across a wide range of sectors, meeting the needs of the local community by offering a broad curriculum. This includes A Levels, technical and vocational courses, apprenticeships including degree-level apprenticeships, university education and a range of programmes for adult learners including shorter, part-time courses.

The academic year 2018/19 has seen some important changes at Blackburn College – particularly within further education where student achievement has seen overall college achievement rates increase by 3.8% between 2017/18 and 2018/19. Indeed, these represent the best results in four years.

Case study: East Lancashire Hospitals Trust

Blackburn College is currently working with the JobCentrePlus and East Lancashire Hospitals Trust (ELHT) to support the Trust in filling hard-to-recruit-to vacancies.

One third cohort of students are now working on gaining City and Guilds Certificates as they prepare for potential employment with the ELHT. Through study, taster days and a tours of the hospital departments, the cohort gets a behind the scenes look at where they could be working in the future.

As part of the students’ preparation they have mock interviews in preparation for their interview with the ELHT. If the students are successful at interview they attend a three week placement at the hospital prior to being enrolled to the Bank Scheme to choose the shifts they would like to work.

The scheme has already seen attendees appointed as healthcare assistants, porters and has filled business admin vacancies at the Trust.

• Hannah Baker, business development manager, apprenticeships
  01254 29 25 00
  Hannah.Baker@blackburn.ac.uk

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