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LET THE TRAINING BEGIN
The opening of Bridgwater College’s new Automotive Skills Centre took place at Wylds Road in Bridgwater.
The event attracted industry figureheads from manufacturers such as Ford, Hyundai and Bosch, as well as local automotive retailers and body repair centres. The common element that brought both large and small industry representatives together under one roof is a shared requirement for specialist training.
Bridgwater College’s Automotive Skills Centre offers high quality training and assessment in vehicle body repair and rinishing; driver CPC (Certificate of Professional Competence); air-conditioning; vehicle maintenance and repair; logistics; auto-electrical; airbag and SRS and Automotive Technician Accreditation (ATA).
The centre is the current Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) Awards Approved Training Centre of the Year and was officially opened by guest speaker Sarah Sillars OBE FIMI, Executive Chair of The IMI. Sarah, returning to Bridgwater College having opened the HGV Centre at the Bath Road campus eight years ago, congratulated the College and Principal Fiona McMillan on opening the training facility which recognises the existing and future needs of the automotive industry. Sarah also commended the College on achieving its IMI Awards Centre of the Year status over and above nearly 500 other training centres and talked in positive terms about the state of the automotive industry.
Sarah said, ‘Despite the challenging times the automotive industry has seen recently, the British public continues to have a major love affair with cars and motorbikes and it is critical, in an industry where technology is advancing so quickly, that we continue to keep the skills of the country’s automotive employees up-to-date.'
Sarah also took the opportunity to present ATA accreditation cards and certificates to three technicians from Robert Bosch; Robert Adams, Paul Gunstone and Neil Thompson.
Specialist
Andy Berry, Head of Arts and Technology at Bridgwater College and Chairman of the Consortium, opened proceedings with a welcome speech. He talked about automotive training being a unique strength at the College and mentioned the success of some of its specialist delivery such as the thriving motorsport programme.
‘On behalf of everyone at Bridgwater College I would like to thank you all for attending and in particular those from our Consortium partner colleges who have travelled some distance to be here despite the unforgiving weather,’ said Andy.
Also in attendance were representatives from The South West Regional Logistics Academy, for which Bridgwater College is the south west hub. The Academy, led by industry employers and supported by Skills for Logistics, aims to provide quality, industry relevant training and learning programmes to employers in the region, raising the professionalism of the sector and helping businesses to benefit their bottom line through CPD and improved skills.
Fiona McMillan OBE, Principal of Bridgwater College, thanked guest speaker Sarah Sillars and the other guests for joining her in celebrating the opening of the Automotive Skills Centre in her closing speech and said,
‘It is important that Bridgwater College continues to invest in state-of-the art training facilities to ensure we have the right environment to deliver the training that is required,' said Fiona, 'We are committed to working closely with the automotive industry and look forward to continuing to do so.’
Bridgwater College works in partnership with other automotive training centres in the UK as a collective body, The Motor Industry Skills Consortium, established to support the automotive industry in the drive to further raise standards through training, from management development to workshop based maintenance and repair.
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