Cirencester College makes £5m investment in T-Level centre

Cirencester College is building a specialist centre for T-levels. The government has introduced new T- Levels in a bid to ensure that the skills needed by employers are being taught to students. They are two-year technical programmes, designed with employers. The 'T' stands for technical. T-Levels will give 16 to 19 -year olds a technical alternative to A-Levels. One T-Level is equivalent to three A levels.

The building, which is a £5 million investment, has been designed by local architects Roberts Limbrick and is to be built by Gloucester -based E G Carter.

This is the same team which designed and built the college’s new digital building. Both designs are deliberately modelled on modern workplaces and seek to bring the surrounding green campus into the buildings.

College Principal Jim Grant said: “These two buildings will transform the college frontage and provide facilities for our students. The T-Level building will open in the Autumn.

Both will enhance our learning environment and add new resources for our young people.”

University of Gloucestershire invests £1.3 M in bioscience facilities

A new £1.3 million biosciences facility that will enable vital research into human diseases and illnesses, as well as addressing the shortage in biomedical scientists, has opened at the University of Gloucestershire.

The laboratory, based at the School of Natural and Social Sciences at the university’s Francis Close Hall campus in Cheltenham, will provide researchers and students with access to the latest technologies in biomedical science supporting the diagnosis and treatment of disease.

Project Lead, Professor Phil Toms, said: “This new facility represents a major investment by the university in support of local, regional and national priorities, contributing to the graduate workforce in the NHS and industry that are so central to the nation’s wellbeing and success as a world leader in bioscience.

“The facility will fundamentally and substantially enhance our research in life sciences and allied health, from investigating tumour-immune system interactions, to assessing the use of glycosaminoglycans in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, to uncovering the mechanisms that protect DNA in response to drugs.

“Our investment in space, equipment and visualisation technologies represent a step-change in learning for our bioscience students, focusing less on theory through lectures and more on learner development through practice.”

Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Chief Executive, Deborah Lee, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the university to develop the next generation of scientists who are pivotal to our ability to support the early adoption of new technologies and techniques that will help the NHS meet the challenges of the future.

“Biomedical scientists are involved in 80 per cent of the diagnostic tests performed at our Trust and as such are a vital part of our hospital workforce.”