College takes on Dragon’s academy

PETER JONES — set up new academies. Picture courtesy BBC

OLDHAM College has become the North-West base for a national academy set up by Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones.

It replaces Manchester College, which has announced it will no longer work with the tycoon’s educational charity, which runs business courses for teenagers.

The National Enterprise Academy (NEA) — currently being renamed the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy — has denied claims in a national newspaper that its campus at Manchester is closing for financial reasons.

Instead, it says that Manchester was always an interim home and its two-year lease ends on July 31.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is also investigating an allegation of financial mismanagement of the NEA, which is denied by Mr Jones.

The NEA received £3.6 million funding from the government body between 2008 and 2011 and a further £8.7 million from a mixture of private and public funding.

Oldham College had already been announced as an NEA partner, offering its BTEC diplomas in enterprise and entrepreneurship from September.

Mr Jones said: “Oldham College is an excellent further-education facility, which received an outstanding Ofsted inspection in 2008, putting the college in the top 10 per cent of further-education colleges in the country.

“We are building a nationwide network of colleges with the aim of transforming attitudes to entrepreneurship and enterprise education. Oldham College will provide our students with the resources they need to realise their entrepreneurial ambitions.”

The intensive, one-year courses are backed by the likes of placements, mentoring and master-classes with employers across the region such as Manchester City Football Cub, Key 103, Barclays and Selfridges.

Oldham College principal Alun Francis said: “Oldham College is very pleased to be working with the Peter Jones Enterprise Academy and to be named as the hub for the North-West.

“We have undertaken our own due diligence with extremely positive results and agreed that this partnership is a brilliant opportunity for the college, our learners and the town.

“We have an excellent enterprise provision and have been running the BTEC Level 2 and 3 Diplomas in enterprise and entrepreneurship during the past academic year. This will officially allow us to take this to a new level.

“The Peter Jones Enterprise Academy brings huge expertise and know-how, as well as a real commitment to creating opportunities for local entrepreneurs. We have committed to working with them in a way that makes Oldham a leader in developing the enterprise education model that the country needs.

A Manchester College spokesman confirmed: “Manchester College has decided not to continue working with the NEA due to significant changes in the latter’s business model.

“All students on this year’s course have been supported until the end of their studies and none have been disadvantaged by this decision.”

A Government spokesman for the Department of Business added: “The SFA report is under going a process of due diligence within the department. We cannot comment further.”