Building back together: a new strategic partnership for Sheffield Hallam University and The Sheffield College

The indiscriminate toll that the Covid-19 pandemic is taking on families and communities is something we have not seen for generations.

However, while the scale of the challenge is daunting, it has been particularly heartening to see our communities pull together to do everything possible to help during this unprecedented health crisis.

As we begin to tentatively emerge from lockdown, it is clear that a similar collective effort is required in the face of the resulting economic emergency, to save jobs, livelihoods, and businesses.

Both The Sheffield College, with 16,000 students and apprentices, and Sheffield Hallam University, with more than 30,000 learners, work with thousands of local employers.

Our institutions are part of the fabric of our communities and we are proud of the anchor position we both hold within our city region.

When the pandemic hit, we immediately sought to help - providing practical support for communities and vulnerable groups, supporting key workers, fast-tracking more than 600 healthcare students to support the local NHS frontline and seconding staff as volunteers across the city.

We are now gearing up to play a pivotal role in the recovery.

Importantly, we will be best placed to do this by working together - as further education and higher education providers in partnership - to create more opportunities for young people and adult learners to build new, much-needed skills.

It is for this reason that The Sheffield College and Sheffield Hallam University have committed to a new strategic partnership.

We believe that seeing colleges and universities as two separate systems of education is counterproductive, particularly at a time when we need to pull together.

To address the deep economic and social challenges that existed previously but have been exacerbated by the devastating impact of Covid-19, we need all parts of the education and skills system to work collaboratively and cooperatively for the future of our students, our region, and the nation more broadly.

We know that education and training have the power to transform lives and communities.

Now, as communities face unprecedented economic and social challenges in the wake of Covid-19, colleges and universities have arguably never been more important.

This partnership, based on a long history of over 25 years of collaboration, will take advantage of our close proximity in the Sheffield City Centre, in order to provide a more joined-up skills development offer for both students and employers in our region.

We’ve already made some good progress:

We have worked together to produce an Access to Policing course, delivered at The Sheffield College that leads students to a Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship at Sheffield Hallam University;

We’re collaborating on a construction apprenticeships, taking a joined up approach to the new apprenticeships standards to address the needs of employers and the region;

We recognise the enormous pressure of Covid-19 on health and social care, so are we are working together to develop new courses to support these vocations;

We’re looking more broadly at what we both teach, where, and at what level, to see how this fits with the skills needs of the region.

We are also looking at what we can collectively do to support local jobs, local employers and local learners.

And we’re working together to drive higher levels of participation and skill training, as well as trying to help make it easier for young people to work out what type of institution or training might suit them best – be that in a further or a higher education setting.

Find out more about Sheffield Hallam University and The Sheffield College at https://www.shu.ac.uk/ and http://www.sheffcol.ac.uk/