Sheffield Hallam’s Vice-Chancellor has today given his support for a High Speed Rail College for the region, which is now one step closer after the Government announced that Doncaster had made the national shortlist.
It is anticipated that if built the college will generate £150 million for the Sheffield City Region economy.
Professor Philip Jones, Vice Chancellor of the University and a Local Enterprise Partnership Board Member said: “It is great news that Doncaster has been shortlisted as one of the final bids for the new national High Speed Rail College.
“The new college will grow the Sheffield City Region’s strength in engineering skills through its universities and colleges, and will build on specialised courses such as the Network Rail Foundation Degree at Sheffield Hallam University.
“As the HS2 project progresses, demand for highly qualified engineers will become greater and greater and we look forward to working alongside the new college to train the highly skilled engineers this huge project will need.”
Mayor of Doncaster Ros Jones, said: “I am delighted we have made it to the final stage of the process and we will be pulling out all the stops to bring this college to Doncaster for the benefit of businesses and people in the town, the Sheffield City Region, Yorkshire and the north-east of England. This is a major achievement and testament to the partnership approach we have taken to get us into the top four.”
The private sector led Centre for Rail And Technical Excellence (CREATE), coordinated by Doncaster Council and supported by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, business leaders and partners including local authorities across the region submitted the bid last month.
Doncaster is now in a shortlist with Birmingham, Derby and Manchester to land the college. A final decision will be made by an advisory group in July following presentations by the bidders. The centre would be built on a 5 acre site at Doncaster’s Lakeside which already has outline planning permission.
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