College draws up vision as takeover looms
A WISH-LIST of conditions for the new owners of Stratford-upon-Avon College are set out in a document that has been drawn up by staff, students, businesses and other local organisations.
Each has had an input into the 14-page ‘vision’ document that contains ten key ambitions for the future.
Among them are retaining the name of the college, having a senior manager responsible for the day-to-day running of the campus, no downgrading of the courses it offers, investment in the facilities, equipment and staff, and a clear plan to maximise the use of the 250-bedroom accommodation blocks.
The Herald has been told that the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Stratford District Council, University of Warwick, Stratforward, Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) were among the contributors to the vision document and will play a role in deciding which college group will be chosen to takeover the running of the college.
The deadline for bids was last Thursday, 11th May, and representatives from those organisations met with governors the following day to drawn up a list of questions that the shortlisted bidders will be asked.
Those on that shortlist will give presentations to governors and the FE Commissioner and Skills Funding Agency on Monday, 22nd May, and four days later the governors will meet again to make a final decision.
That decision will be announced on Monday, 5th June.
The aim is for the takeover to happen by the end of the year and will follow a four-week consultation that is expected to happen in September, before being rubber stamped by the Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills.
Andrew Cropley, interim principal at Stratford College, said the vision document would play a big role in the governors’ decision. He told the Herald: “It would be brilliant if a partner could tick all of those boxes, and while we’re probably not expecting them to, we certainly want to hear what they have to say against each of them.
“We’d hope that the right partner could go a long way against most of those and at least have a vision of how they might get there, even if there are some question marks against part of it.
“We have got so much to offer. Financially we’re in a pickle, but in terms of the facilities, the staff, the way the town has has really rallied round us to try and help us, the fact we have got 250 beds, there is a huge amount that the right partner could take here.
“The response that we’ve had is that people want to do what we can to preserve us, and I sense that we’ve been doing well with recruiting apprenticeships. I don’t think there has been a huge groundswell but I think there is a indication that the town wants to do what it can to make the college work.”
Referring to the involvement of outside organisations’ involvement in the process, Mr Cropley added: “We’ve got this meeting at 5pm on a Friday night and almost everyone we asked is either coming or sending a capable deputy, which is a really good indication that there’s a sense of ownership and that they want to make it [the college] work for the town, which is really exciting.
“The interest there has been shows that we’ve got something, and whoever does become our merger partner has a huge amount to work with and a great willing- ness from staff and students.”
Stratford College, which has around 1,300 students, had to be bailed out by the Skills Funding Agency in February, for a second time in four years, when it admitted it had run out of money.
That came less than a month after it resisted being forced into a merger after the Coventry and Warwickshire FE Area Review.
The bailout led to the departure of under fire principal Nicola Mannock following months of controversy amid allegations over her management style while chairman of governors, Lord Digby Jones, said he and the rest of the board of governors would quit when the merger was completed.
