Wiltshire College & University Centre is ‘delighted’ to have secured a share of £5.4m in funding.

In partnership with Bridgwater and Taunton College, the colleges have been awarded a shared £325,000 from the College Collaboration Fund (CCF).

The grant, which is designed to develop greater collaboration across the further education sector, will be used to develop new and innovative approaches to digital teaching and learning.

Wiltshire College Principal Amanda Burnside said she was delighted at the news.

“This new funding will enable both colleges to build on and further extend the great work that has taken place online during the lockdown," she said.

“We will then be sharing this good practice across the sector.”

The CCF is a national programme for further education settings to enable them to respond to the challenges faced in the upcoming academic year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This will include quality improvement, as well as capitalise on good practice, which includes new ways of working.

The CCF also seeks to develop the quality of provisions and learner outcomes, including progression to level 3 and beyond qualifications, and to better meet local and national skills priorities to improve labour market outcomes for learners.

The programme was originally launched earlier this year but was cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 20 successful college partnerships were announced by Gillian Keegan, minister for apprenticeship and skills at the department for education, who said: “Now more than ever, it’s vital that colleges can support their students to gain the skills they need to progress and employers and our economy need to grow.

“This fund will help colleges work together, to develop cutting edge digital approaches to online learning, to overcome new challenges and continue to deliver high quality education and training for the communities they serve.

“The past few months have been a challenging time for the sector, but they have gone above and beyond to support their students.

“This additional funding will help to support further collaborative work as we move forward.”