Ofsted praises City College’s business links in glowing report

City College Brighton and Hove’s engagement with local businesses has been praised by Ofsted inspectors in a glowing report that gives the college the enviable grade of ‘good with outstanding qualities’ and places it amongst the top performing Colleges in the country.

The report states that: “The College’s development and use of partnerships are outstanding. Its use of links with employers provides tangible benefits to its learners, including opportunities for progression to jobs and the development of enterprise and employability skills.”

The College, the largest provider of vocational education and training in the City with a cohort of around 10,000 students, was rated ‘Outstanding’ (Grade 1) in several key areas of College life. All other areas under consideration were rated Good (Grade 2).

“When I first became Principal back in 2007, I attended a Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce meeting and was really impressed by the vitality and dynamism of the local business people that I met”, said Principal Phil Frier, who now chairs the Council’s City Employment Skills Group.

“At the time, I felt that it was a priority to work more closely with these businesses to offer further skills training and make sure that we met the needs of for our local workforce to be well educated and have cutting-edge technical skills. I’m therefore delighted that Ofsted has acknowledged that these links with local businesses have become very successful ones.”

Simon Fanshawe, Chair of the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, said: “By training so many local people, City College is in the driving seat of the City's economy. With this latest spectacular Ofsted result under Phil Frier's leadership, it’s really moved into the fast lane."

Tony Mernagh, Chief Executive of the Brighton & Hove Business Forum, said: “Brighton has an incredibly dynamic economy with go-getting businesses that are both light on their feet and very demanding. To satisfy their needs, the College has to be equally light on its feet and capable of meeting the high standards demanded. As its Ofsted result demonstrates, it doesn’t fail either test.”

Julia Chanteray, President of the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce, said: “At the Chamber, our members use City College regularly for staff training and to find apprentices and employees, so we're delighted that this partnership has been reflected in the College’s achievement of the much-coveted ‘outstanding’ grade.”

To find out more about City College’s employer services and training programmes, please contact City Business Skills by email at citybusiness@ccb.ac.uk or call 01273 667756

For City College media enquiries, please call Brian Bell, Marketing Communications Officer, on 01273 667788 Ext. 488 or email bb1@ccb.ac.uk website www.ccb.ac.uk