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After just 18 months of operations, the National College for High Speed Rail has developed a ‘new vision’ to widen its remit from just trains to cars, buses and airplanes as well.
The National College for High Speed Rail opened its doors in October 2017 with colleges in Birmingham and Doncaster. It was set up to provide training and work experience to students aged 18 and above in all aspects of high-speed rail, specifically to support the HS2 project. Its first year intake was 150 students. In February 2019 the college said that it had ‘more than 230 learners enrolled’ and was on track to reach its learner target of 396 by the end of this academic year.
Its target is to enrol more than 1,000 students a year by October 2022.
To hit this target it is now looking to diversify its curriculum to teach students of other transport disciplines.
“Our new vision is to modify our curriculum to provide higher technical skills for the advanced transport and infrastructure sector,” the college said. “So in addition to high speed rail and rail modernisation, it will also encompass other types of rail (for example light rail, metro and freight), highways, transport infrastructure (for example airports, service stations and bus stations), smart mobility and infrastructure (for example BIM and intelligent vehicles) and digital transport systems (for example systems engineering, control centres, transport networks and maintenance).”
It added: “We realise our current name is not the best fit for us to be recognised for our new vision. At the start of the new academic year, we are seeking to implement a name to reflect our wider offer.”
The college is obliged to formally consult with stakeholders before it changes its name. The consultation closes on 29th May 2019 and is available here [link opens in new tab].
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