New Institute of Technology to open in Dagenham

Barking & Dagenham College is one of just 12 colleges and universities nationally to have secured Government funding to open an Institute of Technology.

A two-stage competition was launched in 2018 for employers, further education providers and higher education providers to develop collaborative proposals and bid for a share of a £170 million capital fund to establish new Institutes of Technology.

Barking & Dagenham College was the lead partner on a bid which included anchor partners Coventry University (CU), Huawei, Saint Gobain and TfL.

The new Institute of Technology is an innovative collaboration between educators and employers to secure a pipeline of new talent to meet employers’ needs and skill gaps in east London and surrounding regions.

Sector specialisms will be: Construction and Infrastructure, Advanced Engineering and Robotics, Creative Digital and IT sectors, all of which are critical to the London and UK economy.

The Institute of Technology is a brand new purpose-built building for advanced technologies, which is opening this autumn at Barking & Dagenham College, Rush Green campus. CU London, which is part of the Coventry University Group and is based in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, will be gaining additional, state-of-the-art IT facilities to deliver popular courses such as the BSc Degree in Cyber Security. 

Its appearance will draw on industry best practice; a series of flexible learning zones and high tech labs organised around a central digital design hub; an Employer Innovation and Enterprise Zone and a Research and Development Hub. The spaces will offer state-of-the-art work places as well as a conference space for use by employers and students.

Yvonne Kelly, Principal and CEO of Barking & Dagenham College commented: “The Institute of Technology will support the development of learners’ digital capabilities and higher technical skills. Its primary focus is to develop a workforce trained in new advanced, technological and innovative methods to meet industry’s future needs.

“Employability and work readiness will be firmly embedded into the curriculum and learners will become ‘T-shaped technologists’, gaining important transferrable skills, such as problem solving, teamwork and resilience to support the changing markets and economies.

The opening of this Institute of Technology is fantastic news for the people, businesses and economy of the local region.”

Andy Ginn, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor of CU London added: “We are proud to support this innovative and much needed new development by bringing Coventry University Degree programmes in these high demand STEM skills. Barking & Dagenham College deserve every success with this Institute of Technology, and it’s exciting to see such high-quality provision becoming the norm in the Borough for the benefit of local residents and employers alike.”