AN EAST Lancashire College is bucking a national trend by making sure it is helping to produce ‘quality apprentices’.

According to research by the Institute of the Motor Industry, many businesses would rather employ migrant workers than take on an apprentice because of the poor ‘employability’ of prospective trainees leaving school.

And the organisation said it found that firms believed they would struggle to recruit quality apprentices in the coming years.

Education cuts and poor careers advice were said to be to blame, with firms believing the situation will get worse now that the school-leaving age has risen to 18.

However Blackburn College said it had been working to ensure its apprentices were of a high standard and would be assets to local firms.

Nick Hall, business engagement manager at Blackburn College, said: “Blackburn College have taken deliberate steps to buck this trend by formalising arrangements with Chorley Nissan, BMW Bowker and Simpsons SKODA around a scholarship programme aimed at improving Skills and Employability of students.

“As part of the college’s development of a new £5.5m Regional Automotive Technology Hub (RATH) facility, we looked at what employers required, what skills they were struggling with and then we set about creating a programme that addresses these.

“Our scholarship programme embeds employer modules specific to that motor dealer.

“We are finding that students on the programmes are being snapped up by the dealerships.

“Engagement with employers is a two-way process, and rather than stand on the sidelines it is important for education and employers to work together.”

The survey found that the majority of training providers welcomed the government’s ambition to increase apprenticeships to three million but feared other policies will make it impossible.

All respondents agreed that the current situation was set to get much worse now the education participation age has been raised to 18 in England.

It is not widely understood that this is not restricted to school, and apprentice trainers report that schools are hoarding students and withholding information about vocational training at 16.

The IMI represents the £152-billion a year retail motor industry, which needs 12,000 apprentices a year just to stand still.