Green Technology Project Underway
A pioneering partnership between Derby College and Merrill College has been boosted with nearly £80,000 of funding through East Midlands Development Agency’s (emda’s) Catapulting Kids Further! project which forms part of the Agency’s £9m Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme.
Derby College’s Broomfield Hall in Morley and Merrill College in Alvaston will use the funding to buy a wide range of specialist equipment. This will be used by Derby City students for the new 14-19 year old Environmental and Land Based Diploma that starts in September 2010, as well as to enhance other vocational programme delivery.
Equipment such as solar collectors, wind generators, digital weather monitoring and bio diesel fuelled horticultural equipment will be installed and used on both sites by school and college pupils as well as local people as part of a community and job training skills programme.
Louise Curd, Derby College Vice Principal and Head of Broomfield Hall explained: “This grant will enable both organisations to buy cutting-edge eco-friendly technology equipment that will bring the Diploma programme to life for young people.
“It will also enable us to broaden the horticulture and climate change training programmes out to local businesses, community groups and particularly people who are out of work and need to re-train.
“Finally it will enable us both to progress our own eco-friendly practices such as growing organic vegetables, rain water harvesting and creating sustainable energy at Broomfield Hall which reduces our carbon footprint which is high on both of our agendas.”
Andrew Morgan, Skills and Communities Director at emda, said: “This collaboration between Derby and Merrill College is a great example of how our Catapulting Kids Further! programme can help education providers come together to invest in new technology and equipment.
“Supporting the delivery of diploma qualifications is crucial in ensuring the development of our future workforce and assisting us in our aim of becoming a flourishing region by 2020.
Dr Roger Shipton, Principal of Merrill College, added: “Climate change dominates the news and is at the top of the political agenda so it is essential that we are able to offer a course that teaches youngsters how to protect our environment.
“It is fantastic that the partnership between Merrill College and Derby College has secured this grant from emda to allow us to buy state-of-the-art environmental equipment – it will be a tremendous resource that will benefit both our pupils and the wider community.”