COMPANY PROFILE Engineers make the world. Hartlepool College makes Engineers. “THE ENGINEERING COLLEGE” – that’s how many employers both regionally and nationally refer to Hartlepool College of Further Education. While a rise in demand for engineers has seen new training organisations and other colleges dip their toes into the sector, few can match HCFE’s record or experience. The first engineering courses offered by HCFE’s forebear, the West Hartlepool Mechanics Institute, were established in 1849 to train workers at the very outset of the industrial revolution. It became Hartlepool Municipal Technical College in 1897, delivering skills in engineering, shipbuilding and mathematics - making it the original STEM centre! In 1962 Hartlepool College moved to its now traditional location on Stockton Street, in the town centre close to all major transport links. At the time it had the largest workshops in the region, offering cutting-edge courses that introduced many engineers to emerging areas such as electronics and computing. Over the next five decades the College would build an impressive reputation with over 2000 employers across numerous sectors and all parts of the country – indeed, sometimes the world. It quickly grew to become the largest provider of Apprenticeships in the area – a status it maintains to this day. Not only that, it’s the seventh best performing provider of apprenticeships in the country, and officially in the top 20% of English colleges for all programmes. It’s also the regional hub of the National Skills Academy Nuclear. When the College moved into its new building in 2011 its engineering provision was expanded threefold, with new, dedicated facilities including state-of-the-art laboratories, industry-standard training facilities and even an aircraft hangar with three full airframes.
Engineers Engineers make make the the world. world. We make Engineers. We make Engineers.
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Hartlepool College is one of the most modern facilities in the area, and its engineering pedigree is represented by an ex-RAF Jet Provost displayed in its grounds, fully restored by students.
Most of the new resources were designed with maximum input from employer partners to ensure that they met the demanding requirements of the various engineering sectors HCFE supports. In addition, most of its staff have industrial backgrounds, some bringing with them decades of experience. In fact, many of the features that more recent organisations proudly promote were first implemented by HCFE as it has blazed a trail for others to follow. HCFE was also an early innovator in its approach to higher education, working with university partners to allow students to move seamlessly to higher level qualifications while still studying mostly at the College. The College also runs groundbreaking BEng and MEng Aerospace Engineering programmes in collaboration with Teesside University. Hartlepool College is renowned for its innovative vision, with courses always keeping ahead of current demands by careful monitoring of trends, technology and developments in engineering, and also through direct communication with a virtual “who’s who” of sector leaders. Companies it works with include Gestamp Tallent, Tata Steel, Caterpillar, Siemens, EDF Energy, Cummins Engines, Heerema, Darchem Engineering, Fine Industries, NSK Bearings, KP Foods and Altec Engineering, with many more engaging in partnership all the time. HCFE frequently hosts students from abroad, with engineers from Kuwait, Nigeria and Qatar
amongst those taking advantage of the facilities, with English language teaching also usually part of the package. HCFE is very proactive in encouraging females into engineering, with significant numbers enrolled. On June 23rd it will be hosting a major event to coincide with national Women Into Engineering Day – organised, appropriately, by one of the College’s several female engineering lecturers. Hartlepool College engineering alumni now work all over the world, often in senior positions – for example over the last 15 years several have gone on to be engineers at Nissan. They have a quality engineer with Jaguar Landrover, an engineer with GE Aviation in Southampton, a lead piping engineer and electrical engineers at Amec Foster Wheelers, a planning engineer at EDF and a senior electrical engineer at Whessoe Engineering, to name but a few.
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You can see a short film on HCFE’s engineering provision, and its role in the North East’s engineering heritage, at bit.ly/hcfeeng. To organise a tour please contact Graham Plant
www.hartlepoolfe.ac.uk | @hartlepoolfe | 01429 295000 www.hartlepoolfe.ac.uk | @hartlepoolfe | 01429 295000 www.hartlepoolfe.ac.uk | @hartlepoolfe | 01429 295000
Regional Hub
on 01429 404180.
www.hartlepoolfe.ac.uk | @hartlepoolfe | 01429 295000
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