A university set up to provide skills for major infrastructure projects is to close next month after becoming unviable.
The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure (NCATI) was launched by the government in 2017 as the National College of High Speed Rail, with buildings that could accommodate up to 3,200 students.
The aim of the college was to provide the skills needed for the construction of HS2. But he soon ran into troublewith a small number of enrolled students and an emerging funding deficit during its first years of operation.
The college has now announced it will close at the end of July, with just 49 students on its books plus 119 affiliated learners. About 81 apprentices and 24 students whose courses continue beyond the end of this academic year will be transferred to other providers, he said.
Interim Director and CEO Lowell Williams said: “Unfortunately, we have been unable to identify a sustainable future for NCATI as a direct provider of education and have therefore made the difficult decision to discontinue learning” .
Staff will be laid off and the NCATI buildings are set to “remain an asset to the [further education] sector and the railway industry”, under a future use yet to be determined.
Education regulator Ofsted gave NCATI an ‘inadequate’ rating in 2019 and the college tried to block the inspection’s report. Mark Thurston, Chief Executive of HS2 claimed in 2020 that the institution was concerned that the publication of the report could worsen the shortage of qualifications in the sector.
NCATI was renamed in 2019 to broaden its appeal, and this was part of the University of Birmingham in 2021.
Alasdair Reisner, chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, said Construction news: “The college was a brilliant facility that unfortunately struggled to gain traction with employers and new learners.
“We need to learn the lessons from this so that all future similar facilities are developed with clear industry support to deliver the broad skills needed for the infrastructure, giving flexibility to ensure resilience when the demand for individual roles it doesn’t materialize.”
Building Products Association chief financial officer Noble Francis pointed the finger at the government in a LinkedIn post.
He said: “The government’s persistent delays and failure to deliver on the rail infrastructure sector have real consequences. The government can spend millions on fancy new facilities to train young people to build high-speed trains, but if the government doesn’t deliver on its project announcements, companies can’t commit to investing in people, so everything is wasted and lost. close.”
Earlier this week, the Sunday Times reported that the Department for Transport (DfT) quietly scrapped the acceleration unit incorporated in 2020 to speed up the delivery of infrastructure projects.
The newspaper reported a source in the body saying that the latest announcements a delay the delivery of sections of HS2 it did not coincide with having a unit to accelerate projects.
A DfT spokesman said the unit had been “reorganised” rather than abolished, adding that its roles would continue to help deliver the project.
