Flybe, Europe's leading regional airline, joins high profile education partners to host key Future Engineers' event in Exeter

Flybe and the University of Exeter will again be the centre of attention for the aviation-themed event on Friday 13th September when they bring together 200 teenagers from 20 schools across the region to become aeronautical engineers for the day.

Now in its fourth year, Future Engineers, is jointly organised by Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, the University of Exeter, Exeter College, the Royal Navy and the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Students taking part in the event will divide their day between Flybe's Engineering Headquarters both at its Training Academy and the New Walker Hangar at Exeter International Airport, and the University's Streatham Campus.

The combined drive to highlight the opportunities open to young people within engineering was the original brainchild of Stephen Payne, QM2 and the Carnival Corporation architect. It has been designed to give students aged 14-17 the opportunity to get up-close to aircraft and their various components and inspire them with hands-on practical learning experiences in encouraging them to consider an engineering career.

The visit to Flybe's state-of-the-art engineering hangar will allow students to meet engineers at work, view the airline's Apprentice Workshops and see Fleet Air Arm displays from the Royal Navy that will enable them to witness first-hand engineering in action and its varied career applications. During their time at Flybe, students will be tested on their ability to construct under carriages from paper and wooden aircraft as they test the robustness of their designs against one another for one of two coveted Flybe Engineering 2013 trophies, designed and constructed by Flybe engineers in the hangar workshops.

Jacqui Hepburn, Director of the Flybe Training Academy, says: “Flybe understands the importance of attracting and retaining a skilled and qualified workforce and is committed to supporting young people, especially those from our local region. We are looking forward to once again showcasing the apprenticeship opportunities we can to offer enthusiastic and talented young people in this exciting field of work.”

Students visiting the University of Exeter will discover more about the science behind aeronautics and aviation, and enjoy a taste of the range of engineering studies available. They will have the opportunity to undertake activities in he University's engineering laboratories and enjoy a viewing in the 3D visualisation suite.

A joint publication produced by Flybe Training Academy, Exeter University and Exeter College, which outlines the various career options offered in engineering by the respective parties, will be distributed to students and teachers attending the event.

Exeter College Assistant Principal, Iain Hatt, said “Engineering has, and always will, play a pivotal role in shaping the local and global economy and the College recognises the challenges to educate more students in this key subject area. The Future Engineers event is just one of the ways we want to ensure that young students are inspired to consider engineering as an exciting career path. We have recently achieved STEM assured status for our quality of Science, Maths and Engineering provision and this, together with our investment in state of the art facilities at our new technology centre and valued industry partnerships ensure we provide outstanding teaching , learning and training opportunities to the engineers of the future.”

Ms Hepburn concludes: “The overall aim of Future Engineers is to inspire young people and encourage them to view engineering as an attractive career option, particularly within the aviation sector. It offers solid, well-paid career progression to sought-after engineering graduates. We are all looking forward to inspiring their imagination and their future studies – and to sending their engineering ambitions soaring!”

Over the summer five talented Reach Academy students took part in work experience placements at Thomson Reuters, a multinational media and information firm with a base in Exeter. The students were selected for their skills, matched with a role and placed within a variety of different areas of the company. They enjoyed a taste of a real office environment in a large, fast-paced and busy organisation.

Survey confirms HE students enjoy university experience at Exeter College.

Exeter College's university level courses have won high satisfaction scores from higher education students in the National Student Survey for 2013, ranking the college in the top 20 colleges nationally that deliver higher education.

The survey, commissioned by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and administered by the independent market research agency Ipsos Mori, is completed by final year higher education students at universities and colleges across the country. Using only student feedback, results are published each year to enable potential students to compare the experience they can expect.

Exeter College is one of 159 colleges offering higher education and scored significantly above average feedback in the survey, with a 90% score for satisfaction of teaching, academic support and overall satisfaction.

Exeter College Vice Principal John Laramy said: “This recognition from the students is testament to the high quality teaching, learning and support on offer to Higher Education students at the college. We work in partnership with a number of top-class universities to deliver a range of outstanding higher education programmes to over 500 students here in the city. This excellent rating reflects the feedback we receive over the year about the quality of our teaching and learning and demonstrates the impact of our continual drive to listen to their views and make improvements to their experience.”

Applications are now open for 2014 entry and some spaces are available through Clearing for September 2013. For more information visit www.exe-coll.ac.uk/HE or contact the HE Adviser on 01392 400909.

A level students and staff at the FE Provider of the Year, Exeter College, have continued a year of record breaking news with today's announcement of a 99.4% pass rate.

Students from across Exeter, Devon and Torbay choose to study A levels at this leading college and almost half of this year's 691 young people taking A2 exams achieved Grades A*, A or B grades, which will enable most of them to progress to top universities in the future.

In the Year 12 cohort 1125 students took AS levels and achieved a pass rate of over 90%, with a 5% increase in the numbers achieving the top A and B grades, which suggests more record breaking results in 2014

With these results Exeter will continue to rank amongst the country's top Sixth Form Colleges, as illustrated by an exceptional 107 A* grades at A Level.

Richard Atkins, Principal said, “Today's results are superb! We remain committed to supporting the progress of all our students and our relentless drive to improve teaching and learning is balanced by the enormous range of our enrichment activities, for example our record number of 99 students currently working towards the challenging Duke of Edinburgh Award. These outstanding A level results mean that our students are ideally placed to progress to the UK's top competitive universities.”

Commenting on the significant improvement in the Year 12 AS results Richard Atkins, continued, “We are delighted with the AS results and these hard-working groups of students and future students will all benefit from the development of an additional A level learning centre from this autumn and our recent acquisition of National House in Queen Street, which will become a Regional Centre of Excellence for A level Computing, Maths and Science in 2015.”

Students taking the popular Maths and Science subjects particularly excelled, with half of the 132 students taking A level Maths gaining impressive A and A* grades whilst 19% of Physics students gained the highest A* grade and a third of Chemistry students gaining A or A* grades.

Other key results included Modern Foreign Languages students recording 100% pass rate; every student who took English Literature – 378 in total – being successful at both AS and A2 level and all four Art A level subjects at the college recording 100% pass rates.

Individual success stories spanned from Tavistock to Exmoor, and from Torrington to Sidmouth with straight A grade students excelling regardless of travel journey times to college. Many of these students are now planning to progress to prestigious universities across the UK.

Emma Fielding, the College's new Assistant Principal responsible for A levels has had a journey of her own, having recently joined Exeter College from a 6th form college in Sussex. “I am very impressed with these results,”said Emma “It is clear to me that students here at Exeter College join both an academically rich programme and can take additional opportunities such as the Extended Project which, with a record of 62% A or A* grades this year, greatly enhances their chances in the race for the top university places.”

“I'd like to congratulate all the students and staff at Exeter College who have worked so hard this year,”said Richard Atkins. “Today is about A level results, but we continue to demonstrate inclusivity in the range of students we attract from across the county and the wealth of subjects we offer. We celebrated excellent International Baccalaureate results in July and over 600 students are awaiting their BTEC vocational results, which will be their essential passport to continue on to the universities or employers of their choice. These results are a culmination of a truly outstanding year and, once more, individual students from across Exeter, Devon and Torbay have fulfilled, and in many cases exceeded, expectations and we wish them all well in the next stage of their careers.”

Students from Exeter College gave up their summer holiday time to take part in a very special walk on Thursday 25th July. Students from the college's Reach Academy for gifted and talented students, joined the University of Oxford's Exeter College Rector , Frances Cairncross, as she launched their 700th anniversary celebrations by walking in the footsteps of its original students from Devon to Oxford.

Exeter College, Oxford, was founded in 1314 by Walter de Stapeldon, Bishop of Exeter, and its early students came mainly from Devon and Cornwall. The Rector will walk 160 miles to broadly follow the track of the very first Exeter College Oxford students of the 14th century – many of whom would have made the journey on foot.

As well as the local college students, the Rector was accompanied, on the first stage of her journey, by the Dean of Exeter Cathedral, the Very Rev'd Dr Jonathan Draper. As Bishop of Exeter, Walter de Stapeldon contributed liberally to rebuilding the Cathedral, and his tomb is on the north side of the high altar.

Encouraging the students to take part in the historic event, Reach Academy Coordinator Martin Gilbert said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Exeter College students to celebrate our close links with University of Oxford's own Exeter College. We are delighted to work with them on projects throughout the year and a number of our students have progressed to Oxford, so it seems fitting that they should celebrate the long history the city has shared with the university.”

The Rector's route will continue through Honiton, Axminster, Beaminster, Sherbourne, Wincanton, Rode, Devizes, Avebury and Abingdon, taking in Roman roads, the Jubiliee Trail, Monarch's Way, Wessex Ridgeway, MacMillan Way, the Kennett and Avon Canal, the Ridgeway, and the Thames Path. The Rector plans to arrive in Oxford by 11 August and is hoping to raise money for an internship bursary at the university.

Anyone wishing to sponsor the Rector on her walk can do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/FrancesCairncross

She can be followed on Twitter @Rector2014

Exeter College student Samantha Banks is celebrating after winning the National Award for Outstanding BTEC Travel and Tourism Student of the Year 2013, by Pearson UK.

Samantha, 18, from Umberleigh, who recently completed the Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Travel and Tourism, specialising in Airline Cabin Crew with Flybe, was selected from over 700 nominations for 22 award categories. She has already secured a full-time role working for Easy Jet from Bristol International Airport. She says: “It's great to be working as cabin crew for Easy Jet since it means I am using all the skills I learnt in the course at the college in the real field and I'm enjoying it – even though flight delays can make it difficult for me and the public!”

Samantha celebrated with her family and tutor at a special parliamentary reception at the House of Lords, before being presented with her award by BBC Radio 1 Presenter Matt Edmondson and Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson at a formal ceremony at the Royal Horticultural Halls in London. Samantha was delighted to be selected: “I was really gobsmacked and proud when I heard I had won BTEC student of the year – my Mum and Dad are really pleased and have all my awards on the mantelpiece, my whole family is really proud!”

Described by her tutors as “outstanding in many ways”, she was nominated for the national accolade by proud tutors at the college for her commitment to the course, in which she has gained full D* distinction grades – the highest possible – and maintained a 100% attendance record, despite travelling 90 minutes each way to college.

Jane Mason, Travel and Tourism Lecturer at Exeter College said: “I remember the first day I interviewed her for the course and immediately knew she would be amazingly successful and go far as she was determined to work in the airline industry. She has been successful at gaining a job after her first industry interview, using all her course knowledge in terms of preparation for employment and work experience units wisely to land her dream job! She is now passing on her experience from the interview process to her class peers and several students have now also gained airline employment following her success and advice! She is a real inspiration to others and a great example of how vocational courses like this can prepare young people for the world of work and entry into employment, even in such difficult economic times.”

The awards were organised by Pearson, who own Edexcel, the awarding body for BTEC qualifications, in recognition of nearly one million students across the country who are studying BTECs this year. Rod Bristow, President, Pearson UK said: “I'm delighted the National BTEC Awards are now in their third year and becoming an established moment in the education calendar. In our modern economy with ever changing skills needs, we need practitioners who understand the theory, and academics who can put things into practice. BTEC aims to give students access to that kind of rounded education.

“More and more universities and employers are telling us that they value that rounded approach. Every year, thousands of BTEC students go on to further study and good jobs that really value their skills. They achieve great things in a wide variety of industries vital to the economy, ranging from business and engineering to ICT and healthcare.

“It is vital to support and celebrate the hard work and achievements of outstanding BTEC students and their teachers. This year's judges were impressed by the quality and number of nominations we received but Samantha really stood out as a truly exceptional student”

The Earl of Wessex will officially open Devon County Council's new world class outdoor education and training centre in Exeter.

The Earl will visit the £5.6 million centre at Haven Banks on Exeter's quayside on July 22 at 1.50pm.

He will see the classrooms and facilities as well as watching students kayaking and sailing on the River Exe and climbing and descending the power fan within the new climbing enclosure.

The centre itself was officially handed over last month and activities have already begun. It replaces the existing, outdated activity centre on the canal basin. Devon County Council is funding the building and, in a pioneering partnership, it will be run by Exeter College on a day-to-day basis.

The existing activity centre currently provides outdoor education courses for more than 25,000 young people a year. They include courses for sailing, canoeing, kayaking, windsurfing, climbing, caving, orienteering, archery, raft building, team building and first aid at Haven Banks and locations around Devon.

The new centre will increase the take-up by providing a contemporary hub for outdoor adventure activities for young people and adults from Exeter and Devon and across the region.

Devon County Council leader, John Hart, said: “This is another major investment in Exeter by Devon County Council which will only serve to boost the economy of the city.

“It is the biggest single sum ever to be allocated from the proceeds of the sale of Exeter Airport. The new centre will provide 21st century facilities for a wide range of activities for both young people and adults in the growing sector of adventure pursuits. It is a major boost for Exeter and I am delighted that we have been able to enter into a long-term partnership with Exeter College to run the whole operation.”

Centre manager Ben Hedden said: “This facility provides Exeter and the wider community with recreational and educational facilities which are second to none. They will allow us to further engage young people and adults of every ability in the positive, adventurous activities we already provide. Our former facilities served us well for over 25 years. But the new centre offers state-of-the-art facilities which will complement and extend the professional courses and activities we provide.”

Exeter College Principal, Richard Atkins, said: “Exeter College is delighted to be working as a strategic partner with Devon County Council establishing a world-class outdoor education and training centre for the people of Devon.

“This new centre will enable us to offer an innovative approach to education and training, with provision that will encompass the individual needs of a wide range of students, including those who are currently disengaged from education through to professionals undertaking training and development in leadership and management.

“We are looking forward to managing this new centre which will be an outstanding learning environment benefiting a wide range of learners from across Devon in this exciting and growing sector and we delighted that the Earl of Wessex is able to officially open the centre.”

Representatives from contractors Midas Construction and project managers NPS Property Services will be at the opening. Midas said: “This is a wonderful project and Midas is very proud to be associated with what will become a landmark building that will benefit so many young people in the Westcountry.”

Local county councillor Roy Hill said: “I'm delighted this first class facility is opening in the heart of Exeter and that so many young people across the county will be able to participate in the activities on offer.”

Click here to view pictures from the visit

Exeter College has announced this week that it has purchased the National House building in Queen Street and will open it at the start of the new term in September with future plans to create a dedicated Computing, Maths and Science Centre for the college's students.

Principal Richard Atkins said “I am delighted that the College has successfully negotiated the purchase of National House, which will become an important addition to the College's facilities.”

“This acquisition was fully supported by the College's Board of Governors and forms part of our long term property strategy. During the summer break work will be carried out to enable us to temporarily accommodate a small number of courses in National House in the new academic year.”

“Longer term plans are being finalised and the aim is to refurbish the whole building in 2014/15 to create a dedicated Computing, Maths and Science Centre, which will provide an excellent learning environment for these key subject areas that are so important to the future education of our community and the local and national economies.”

“The new Centre will be ideally located to complement the College's existing city centre sites and will enable us to deliver innovative education to the Computing, Maths and Science students who choose to come to Exeter College from across the South West. The College has begun consultations with local residents' associations who have welcomed the news and expressed their support of our plans to develop the building, which has been vacant for a number of years.”

The news of the purchase is in addition to the announcement earlier in the year that the college, in partnership with the University of Exeter, has been asked by the Government to develop a specialist Maths School in the city, only the second of its type in the country, that will provide a regional centre of excellence preparing students for rigorous degrees and combining the mathematical expertise of university academics and the curricular and pastoral support of the college.

Exeter College joined seven other further education colleges across Devon and Cornwall this week to launch a Government scheme offering loans for adult learners.

People aged 24 or over who want to study at levels three and four or for advanced and higher level apprenticeships can now apply for a loan to pay for their course.

24+ Advanced Learning Loans will operate on the same basis as higher education loans, with no repayment until the student has finished his or her course and is earning above £21,000.

This is the first time adult learners in further education will be able to access a Government loan to support their course costs.

Exeter College Principal, Richard Atkins said “We're delighted to be involved in helping to explain the new 24+ loans since we know that finance can be one of the main barriers to learning.

“These loans will mean that adult learners on particular courses will be able to access new and improved opportunities leading to better jobs and future careers. “Exeter College is keen to help students of all ages access opportunities, gain higher qualifications and skills and we’re hoping that this new financial support will encourage adult learners to apply for the wide range of Access and other level 3 and 4 courses available.”

Learners can apply for a loan now for courses starting in September.

Further information and details of how to apply are available by phoning (0845 111 6000), or emailing info@exe-coll.ac.uk or by visiting www.exe-coll.ac.uk/24loans

To view a copy of the new Adult Learning Guide click here

Exeter College celebrated with the local Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths community this week with the presentation of its STEM assured status by the New Engineering Foundation. The award, giving national recognition for its work in these crucial subject areas was presented by Dr David Whan one of NEF’s Trustees and Scientific Advisers at the EXiST group meeting this month held at the Innovation Centre at the University of Exeter.

The prestigious STEM Assured status is the only outcome-based standard that quality assures providers of vocational education and training and ensures the provision meets the current and future needs of industry. It is only awarded to organisations which can demonstrate that they provide high quality and industry-led training and education in these key subjects and has an integrated, cross-curricular approach to STEM studies. NEF is an independent foundation, professional body and do-tank supporting innovation and the development of SciTech skills

“Iain Hatt, Assistant Principal at Exeter College, said on receiving the award “I am really pleased to be here at the ExIST group meeting to accept our STEM Assured award in the presence of others who share our enthusiasm towards this important sector. The STEM Assured standard validates the high quality of the College’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics provision, as well as our partnerships with employers and a range of industry sectors.”

“The College recognises the challenges to educate more students in these key subjects, which will be vital for the future growth of many important industries and the national and local economy. Achieving this STEM Assured award, our investment in state of the art facilities and the support of such valued industry partnerships will help to ensure that Exeter College is able to provide outstanding teaching, learning and training opportunities to the Scientists, Engineers and Mathematicians of the future.”

Dr Whan congratulated the college stating “The report from the external validation panel was very strong with comments such as “impressive submission” “the high levels of competence at the college in many important areas” “strong, responsive links to both local industries and learners” and “the drive of staff to continue to improve rather than rest on their laurels.”

The validation panel – a group of experts from the New Engineering Foundation and Cornwall College took evidence from the college staff, students and from local employers such as the Met Office, Alcoa Howmet, Flybe, Interserve Construction and Greenslades Garage and their report noted the broad portfolio of STEM related provision at the college.