Lord Kenneth Baker labelled Warrington’s new University Technical College the ‘future of education’ on a visit to the Dallam Lane construction site yesterday.

Building work on the £10m University Technical College is well underway and on Tuesday November 17 the site was visited by Lord Baker, who co-founded the Baker Dearing Trust which sets the up colleges that offer vocation education for 14-19 year olds.

The college, part of the £190m Stadium Quarter regeneration, will open in September 2016 and will offer specialist education in engineering and energy.

Visiting the site on Tuesday, Lord Baker said: “This is the future of education.

“The problem we’ve got at the moment is that because there’s been a focus on academic subjects we’ve got graduate unemployment on a big scale now.

“I very strongly believe that people learn with their hands as well as their brains – there’s no question about that and that’s what made us prosperous in the 19th century.

“The University Technical College has been supported by the local MPs and also by the council – the council has given us the land.”

The college will offer 620 places to teenagers in Warrington and will boast links to partner companies in the nuclear, engineering and robotics industries.

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