Activate Learning’s innovative approach to business partnership recognised in award nomination

Activate Learning has been nominated for a partnership award at the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group Business Awards, taking place at the end of June.

The leading education provider is being recognised for its ‘Learning Re-imagined’ strategy in the Education and Business Partnership Award category.

The group’s Berkshire and Oxfordshire colleges and schools work closely with employers across several industry sectors to design and deliver curriculums and, equally importantly, teach the soft skills that students will need to succeed in the workplace.

Innovative partnerships – including one with the Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Trust that is unique to the further education sector – provide students with a vast range of opportunities to work in real world situations, learn from professionals and apply classroom lessons to everyday life.

Businesses benefit by building the skills they need from their existing and future workforce; current employees supervise and train students on work placements, gaining valuable management experience; and companies create a pipeline of talent, facilitating the recruitment process.

Neil Edwards, Activate Learning’s Group Director for Commercial Support said:

“This award nomination recognises how, in partnership with business, we develop the right attitudes, behaviours, technical and soft skills in our learners. This helps to ensure that our students are highly employable and can add value to the companies they join.  

“As today’s learners will undertake multiple careers throughout their working lives, they require tools to support them including: emotional resilience; self-management; confidence; and the ability to establish excellent working relationships – all of which have typically been underdeveloped in their education.

“By building business partnerships, we can focus on employability and softer skills, in addition to bringing the workplace into the lecture room.

“We are extremely pleased that this innovative approach has been recognised by the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce Group, and we are very much looking forward to the awards event.”

Activate Learning will be competing against Learning to Work, New College Swindon and Slough Aspire, with the winner announced at the awards ceremony on 27 June at the Hilton Hotel, Reading.