We’re world class — and that’s official

APPROVAL . . . Siôn Simon with Kath Thomas and students Raheel Mohammed and Rebecca Langford

WORLD class! The verdict of further education minister Siôn Simon when he visited Oldham College.

Mr Simon, MP for Birmingham Erdington, yesterday spent two hours at the Rochdale Road college which is to be transformed by a £70 million redevelopment.

Describing the college as outstanding, he told the Oldham Chronicle: “By every measure it is one of the best in the country.

“If this was a world class university in the middle of Oldham everybody would be talking about it. The vocational sector calls itself the Cinderella sector, it doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

“The whole community should be looking to the college for the training and the skills that people will need to get in work, get further in work and get back into work.”

He admitted to hating school and university, but highlighted the importance of education, saying: “I stuck at it because I knew it would make a difference; it gives you choice like nothing else does.”

And amid the current economic crisis, he also had a message for businesses: “The experience of the last recession shows that companies that continue to invest in training are much more likely to survive.”

Plans have been submitted to demolish and replace most of the college and principal Kath Thomas said: “This visit comes at a critical time. We were especially interested in discussing the importance of our new campus development in regeneration and our critical role in reducing worklessness and increasing the skills of the local and regional workforce.”