New centre to boost IT skills
A brand new Digital Skills Centre on the fifth floor of New College Stamford was opened in time for the start of the college year.
Work on the £912,000 project began at the start of summer and was finished in time for students to begin using the facility on their first day back.
Of the total value, funding of £438,500 was secured from the Local Enterprise Partnership as the college was able to demonstrate how the investment would improve the delivery of digital skills training and education.
Head of department for business, IT, media and travel, Gary Munson-Pike, said the area had been in need of “modernising”.
He said work had included significant refurbishing of the the interior and upgrading IT equipment.
“The area was traditionally known as the fifth floor where IT and business classes took place,” said Gary.
“It needed modernising as technology is advancing rapidly and state of the art computers have now been brought in.”
He said the layout of the floor had also been designed to “mirror industry practices”.
“There’s an open feel to it that encourages collaboration and teamwork, skills that are needed in the work place.”
In addition to numerous computer work stations, there’s also comfortable seating around the room with plenty of plug points for students who bring in their own devices.
Windows allow for plenty of natural light to filter into the area and also offer commanding views of around Stamford.
Gary said the area had already been well received by students.
“They can’t believe how much it has changed from what it looked like previously,” he said. “All the feedback we have received so far has been really good.”
The Greater Lincolnshire ‘Digital Landscape Summary Report 2017’ identified that the digital sector was growing in terms of real jobs and improvement in digital skills has been identified nationally, regionally and locally as a key economic and business need. The completion of the project supports the development of new areas including cyber security, mobile technologies, green IT and cloud computing.
The college has undertaken several large projects in recent years including the £3.5m Construction and Automotive Centre, the £500,000 refurbishment of the library and the £245,000 refurbishment of the College Refectory.
