Our mission

Our mission is to provide young people with a relevant education in a fast-changing world, and provide employers with the skilled workforce needed for UK industry to thrive. We offer young people the education they need today to equip them for tomorrow’s careers.

The challenge

Widening skills gap

Between 2011 and 2015, the UKCES Employer Skills Survey estimated that the number of vacancies due to skills shortages had more than doubled from 91,000 to 209,000. The numbers will now be much higher and this problem will only continue to grow unless we do something to plug the gap and provide the skilled workers employers need.

Skills mismatch

The CIPD’s 2018 report, ‘Over-skilled and underused’ found that 37% of workers have the skills to cope with more demanding duties, and that 12% lacked the skills needed to carry out their current job effectively. This suggests a skills mismatch – the UK is producing highly trained people but not in the areas where industry desperately needs technical skills.

Digital revolution

The ‘linear thinking’ skills prioritised by the current school system are precisely those that algorithms are able to perform much more quickly, profoundly and reliably than humans. The digital revolution will eliminate the need for these skills, placing a greater importance on transferable and digital skills.

The solution

UTCs are established by companies and universities in areas of high demand for talent. They provide a bridge between the world of education and the world of work, training young people in the technical entrepreneurial skills and personal and collaborative skills needed to succeed in the modern workplace.

Each UTC works with a network of local industry partners to design a learning programme which covers not only the core curriculum of English, Maths, and Sciences, but also sought-after technical qualifications taught by specialist staff with industry standard equipment.

The UTC programme has a strong emphasis on employer engagement, including real-life project-based learning, which engages students and develops their personal attributes. On leaving a UTC, students have already established connections with local employers, have applied practical skills through project-based learning and are used to working in a professional environment.

This makes them highly employable and sets them up for a broad choice of pathways at 18 – whether that’s going to university, higher and degree apprenticeships, or directly into a career. The impressive track record of student destinations after leaving UTCs is testament to the quality of this distinctive educational experience.