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BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
inverness.uhi.ac.uk/business
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CONTENTS
OUR PURPOSE INTRODUCTION TO INVERNESS COLLEGE UHI WHY CHOOSE INVERNESS COLLEGE UHI SERVICES TO BUSINESS WHAT OUR BUSINESS CUSTOMERS SAY ABOUT US
We are proud to be working in partnership with a wide range of businesses across the Highlands & Islands including:
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OUR PURPOSE Inverness College UHI is the largest partner in the University of the Highlands and Islands network. Our purpose is to have a transformational impact on the development and prospects of the region, its people and its communities. How to Contact Us:
The Business Solutions Team can be contacted either by telephone on 01463 273666 or by email: business.ic@uhi.ac.uk
As an organisation, we are committed to realising the ambitions of students, staff and the communities we serve through provision of excellence in tertiary education and research in a supportive, creative and dynamic environment.
This brochure is available in alternative formats on request.
Our work with employers and businesses has an extremely important part to play in achieving this purpose.
BURNS BURNS & BURNS
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INTRODUCTION TO INVERNESS COLLEGE UHI Based in the Capital of the Highlands & Islands, Inverness College UHI is ideally located to support businesses. Our new buildings at the Inverness Campus and the Scottish School of Forestry at Balloch were opened in 2015, providing state-of-the-art facilities within easy access of major road networks and just a few miles from the railway station and Inverness Airport. This guide provides an introduction to the range of education, training and business solutions provided by Inverness College UHI for employers. New services are continually being developed in response to business needs.
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Inverness College UHI is expert in designing and delivering education, training and development programmes for businesses across a wide range of sectors, as well as providing access to a wide range of funded and partly funded support services. Our offer includes:
• Education and training programmes from basic to post graduate level. • Modern Apprenticeships: recruitment, selection, training and assessment. • Work Based Learning and vocational qualifications, including bespoke training and NVQ/SVQ. • Scheduled and bespoke short courses, including professional and licence related courses. • Pre-recruitment training programmes to equip unemployed people with the specific skills that your business needs. • Work experience and graduate placements. • A wide range of funded and part funded programmes such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) and programmes to increase innovation and entrepreneurship through our ‘CREATE’ team. • Customised pre-recruitment programmes to address skills needs. • Access to our iconic building for events and meetings. As the leading training provider in the Highland region and a partner in the University of the Highlands and Islands, we have established links and partnerships across the region. These enable us to give you access to a wealth of specialist knowledge and expertise and the full range of Government funding, grants and incentives, to reduce the costs of training and development wherever possible.
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WHY CHOOSE INVERNESS COLLEGE UHI? Our experience
Our excellent facilities and resources
We are a well-established training provider with a huge amount of experience in working with local, regional and national businesses. We offer competitive prices and genuine value for money, having access to a wider range of funding than private training providers.
Our state-of-the-art new buildings, which opened in 2015, offer a range of high industry standard workshops and laboratories supported by the latest computer technology. Our practical facilities include: engineering machine rooms; electrical workshops; motor vehicle and construction workshops; professional training salons; the ‘SEAM’ centre for micro-renewable training and specialist training restaurants. The Scottish School of Forestry is perfectly situated in areas of forest and well equipped to deliver a range of professional and academic qualifications. Our range of conference facilities, IT suites and restaurants can be booked for events.
Our customer service
We have an excellent reputation with businesses, large and small, from a wide range of sectors for our responsiveness and high level of customer service. There are some examples of the feedback we have received on page 13 of this brochure but we would always be happy to refer potential customers to existing customers for references. Our flexibility
Flexible, distance and blended learning options are available to fit around your business needs. Plus, our experience and specialist industry knowledge across a range of sectors also means that we can design bespoke programmes, tailored to your specific requirements. Our industry-expert tutors
Our tutors have a wealth of industry experience and keep up-to-date with the latest industry standards and changes in sector regulations. This ensures that our training provides your staff with the skills and knowledge they need to work confidently and productively.
Our Modern Apprenticeship performance and expertise
Our Modern Apprenticeship success rates are among the highest in the UK at over 80%. Our Business Solutions team is expert in supporting employers to introduce apprenticeships to their workforce, whilst maximising Government funding and minimising associated bureaucracy. Our access to funding
Our teams have an excellent record of accessing funding to support training from a wide range of sources including: Skills Development Scotland; University of the Highlands & Islands; ESF (European funding); UKCES and local Government. This ensures that we can maximise the use of available funding to make your staff development budget go further. The latest information on available funding is provided on a leaflet in the back of this brochure. Our research expertise
Our research is focused on being international and world leading in several key disciplines, including freshwater science, social policy and literature. As part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, 69% of the research submission to the UK-wide Research Excellence Framework achieved the two top grades: internationally excellent and world leading. Our research in forestry is developing in line with sector needs, with opportunities for research studentships that will link directly with a key industry for Scotland, and researcher expertise in forest biodiversity and ecology, timber technology and social forestry. Our Rivers and Lochs Institute has a cutting edge new facility for molecular genetics analysis focused on research in freshwater biology, but capable of handling DNA sample analyses to address a range of biodiversity and ecosystem related questions.
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SERVICES TO BUSINESS Training Needs Analysis
Modern Apprenticeships
Our Business Solutions Team has a wide range of expertise and sector experience and works in partnership with your business to develop a tailored training needs analysis. From this assessment of your company’s training needs, we can support your organisation in devising a training plan, maximising the use of available funding and grants to ensure that training is cost effective and responsive to your business needs.
Inverness College UHI has some of the highest Modern Apprenticeship success rates in the UK, with over 80% of Apprentices completing their qualifications. Our dedicated Business Solutions Team is expert at supporting employers to develop and implement Modern Apprenticeship programmes, including: • Identifying the appropriate Apprenticeship type to meet skill needs. • Providing information on the availability of any additional grants. • Supporting the recruitment of suitable candidates. • Providing access to funding for travel and accommodation, dependent upon the location of the Modern Apprentice. • Arranging training and assessment, both on and off the job. • Monitoring the progress of the Apprentice through regular reviews. • Handling the Government paperwork relating to the Apprentice and access associated funding. Our Business Solutions Team has experience across a wide range of sectors, ensuring that we understand your business requirements and develop Apprenticeships to suit your business needs. The map below shows the locations of Inverness College’s Modern Apprentices, across Scotland and the Islands
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SERVICES TO BUSINESS (CONT) Employability or Pre-recruitment Programmes
With unemployment rates being so low in the Highlands and particularly in Inverness, businesses are reporting significant skills gaps and other difficulties in recruiting the workers they need to grow. Inverness College UHI can design and deliver bespoke training programmes, to provide unemployed or underemployed people with the skills required to fill local job vacancies. We have access to a range of Government funding to support delivery, dependent upon the eligibility of applicants and work in partnership with Job Centre plus to identify potential applicants. Programmes can differ in length, according to the needs of the employer, and applicants who successfully complete the course can be interviewed by the employer for relevant vacancies. Employers can have as much input as they wish into the actual delivery of the course and can provide opportunities for appropriate work experience as part of the programme. Further and Higher Education
As the only provider of both further and higher education in Inverness, we are keen to engage with local business to ensure that both the content and delivery models of our courses and training programmes meet the needs of industry. The success of the College in retaining graduates
in the Highlands, rather than losing young talent to the central belt, will undoubtedly benefit the regional economy but there are other ways in which we can work with business to achieve tangible benefits. We are already engaged in a wide range of industry partnerships and we are keen to extend these. Here are some of the ways that we can work together in further and higher education: • Student work experience: work experience can be invaluable to young people, enabling them to put the skills and knowledge gained at College to use in a working environment. This can benefit employers too, as a means to attracting talented young people to their business. • Foundation Apprenticeships – see page 9. • Student Internships. • Scholarship funds: the College works with the University of the Highlands and Islands Executive Office to promote the benefits of sponsorship and scholarship funding by employers. • Curriculum Advisory Groups: each sector area within the College has a curriculum advisory group made up of local company representatives. The aim of the groups is to guide the development of the curriculum and to discuss new models of delivery to suit the changing needs of industry.
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• Research: the College has research in areas that link closely with the curriculum strengths of the College. We liaise closely with industry and sector partners to ensure our research is relevant and applicable to both local and national interests. Our Rivers and Lochs Institute has an Advisory Group with over ten public and private sector representatives. • K TP: the college has worked with a number of external partners on knowledge transfer and exchange partnerships. These are an ideal opportunity for business to work closely with the University to develop novel ideas and bring innovation into the heart of the Highlands. Foundation Apprenticeships
Foundation Apprenticeships are being developed with Skills Development Scotland to make education more relevant to industry needs. Schools, colleges and employers are working in partnership to enable senior school pupils to gain industry recognised qualifications alongside their academic studies and undertake workplace activities to enhance work relevant skills.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
We are developing Foundation Apprenticeships in key sectors linked to local skills needs including: • Civil Engineering. • Social Services and Healthcare. • Social Services (Children and Young People). • ICT Hardware /System Support. School pupils attend college one day per week to gain relevant industry knowledge and skills, together with undertaking work placements to give them a better understanding of the sector and inform their further education and career choices, be it into a Modern Apprenticeship, college, university or employment. Students who have achieved a Foundation Apprenticeship will be better equipped to undertake a Modern Apprenticeship, accelerating the return on investment for employers.
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SERVICES TO BUSINESS (CONT) SHORT COURSES
The Business Solutions Team will be happy to help you with your company’s training requirements and work with our highly qualified academic staff and specialist consultants to fulfil your training needs. A course schedule is provided in the back of this brochure, covering a wide range of training and qualifications including: Health & Safety qualifications, ICT vendor qualifications, construction related licences and qualifications, management training and many more. We can also arrange bespoke training courses or qualifications to meet company specific skills needs.
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Event Facilities
Inverness College UHI has a wide range of facilities and rooms available for hire. We are keen to open the campus to the local business community. Our meeting rooms, kitchens, workshops, classrooms and lecture theatre are equipped with the latest presentation and video conferencing technology. Our in-house hospitality team can cater for a wide range of events, in our restaurant, cafĂŠs or atrium. A leaflet providing examples of the facilities available is available from the Business Solutions Team.
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WHAT OUR BUSINESS CUSTOMERS SAY ABOUT US
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BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
RYAN SABINO
OLIVER TAVARAS
SCOTRAIL
LOCH DUART SALMON
As an employer of Modern Apprentices, Scotrail has seen the immense value of the services that Inverness College provide. From basic NC units to Degree level, our Apprentices are given the opportunity to continue to develop and grow, ensuring that they are highly prized in the Engineering world. Inverness College offers the upmost support for the Apprentices through all stages of learning and development, which is why Scotrail has continued to use Inverness College for Apprentice development for over 10 years. Many thanks.”
I started working for Loch Duart Salmon as part of a work experience programme whilst at school. The main attraction for me was working outdoors which is where I love to be and to begin with I worked out at sea. From there my school liaised with Loch Duart Salmon and eventually the MA opportunity came up.
YVONNE CLARK
PAM FRASER
20/20 CLEARVIEW
KORRIE MECHANICAL & PLUMBING LTD
Pauline and Stephen are so easy to work with. The nature of our particular business is that we often don’t have time to plan well in advance, and I never have any qualms about ringing them up and asking for help – they respond quickly and somehow always come up with a workable solution which suits our clients, our timescales and costs.
Inverness College UHI Business Development Team keep us informed of all upcoming courses available which enables us to keep our employees’ training up-to-date at all times. They also offer bespoke training to fit our business needs. Excellent service from a great team of people.”
“We are based a long way from Inverness and they seem to appreciate this as well. I know our clients are in safe hands and can confidently tell them that everything will be fine and they will be looked after.”
“This opportunity was perfect for me as I was able to get qualifications whilst taking home a wage! I enjoy everything about my job I have worked my way up where now in the manager’s absence my role is similar to that of a “Site Manager”. I am coming close to completing my apprenticeship and would definitely recommend the Modern Apprenticeship route to anyone who is thinking about it. It has given me a solid foundation to build on for my future career.”
14 PAMELA URQUHART & MAIRI MACIVER SCOTTISH UNION LEARNING IN THE HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS
Scottish Union Learning enjoys an excellent working relationship with the Business Development Department at Inverness College UHI. Business Development staff are friendly and efficient, helpful and accommodating, with a ‘can do’ attitude and a commitment to and understanding of trade union learning needs. The Business Development Department is our main point of contact within the College and ensures courses are developed and delivered at times and places suitable for trade union learners across the Highlands & Islands.”
TONY LOCKEY BSW TIMBER
The Inverness College UHI expert guidance and coaching received by our employees has proved to be beneficial in the workplace in our Mills in areas such as Engineering, IT and Administration. “The partnership we have with Inverness College UHI gets stronger every year and we look forward to developing new ways of working together in different fields of learning to allow our business to take on the inevitable new challenges and requirements of our industry. “The new facilities at Inverness College UHI opened this year provide our employees with state of the art facilities to learn and develop in. We look forward to working with you for many years. “The level of training our apprentices receive at Inverness College UHI is second to none. The relationship that BSW has with our Inverness College UHI contacts helps us greatly to plan, implement and monitor new recruits through their Modern Apprenticeship Programme.”
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Photographed from left to right Front: Stephen Wells, Kirsty Buchanan, Laura Hillyard, Reina Edmiston, Roz Thomas, Carol Langston Back: Martin Whyte, Penny MacRae, Kate Ellistone, Jo MacKinnon, Carol Sutherland, Helen Miller, Pauline Tuthill, Lorraine Andrews, John MacLeod
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS TEAM
inverness.uhi.ac.uk/business