Shrewsbury College and Babcock International Group have developed a successful partnership over the past six months, creating valuable opportunities for students through industry workshops, careers events, site visits, work experience placements and apprenticeships.

As part of the collaboration, Babcock has delivered presentations to Engineering and Automotive students, attended the College's Routes2Careers event, provided site tours of its Donnington facility, and hosted 13 Automotive students on work experience placements. Students have gained invaluable first-hand experience of a live engineering environment, working alongside industry professionals and learning about career opportunities within the defence and engineering sectors.

The partnership is already delivering results, with two Shrewsbury College students who undertook work experience, Estelle Stevens and Alasdair Currie, successfully securing apprenticeships with Babcock International Group.

Estelle Stevens said:

"Visiting Babcock showed me what's possible and securing an apprenticeship there is a huge step towards my future career."

Samantha Lindsay, Workplace Coordinator at Shrewsbury College, said:

"We are delighted to be working with Babcock to provide our students with such valuable industry experience. Opportunities like this allow students to apply their learning in a real-world context and gain a clearer understanding of future career pathways."

Dean Green, Apprenticeship Manager at Babcock International Group, said:

"This partnership marks the beginning of what we hope will be a long-term relationship with Shrewsbury College, helping us inspire and develop the next generation of engineers while creating exciting opportunities for local young people."

The collaboration reflects an alignment in values and culture of both businesses and a shared commitment to developing local talent and creating clear pathways into employment, apprenticeships and further training.

The early success of the partnership has also led to discussions about expanding the relationship further, with both organisations actively planning how Shrewsbury College can support the delivery of apprenticeships and bespoke upskilling programmes to meet Babcock's unique future workforce development needs.

To celebrate the success of the partnership and discuss future opportunities, Dean Green, Marcus Woodcock, (Babcock International Group Workshop Manager), Andrew Lee (Director of Apprenticeships and Employer Partnerships at Shrewsbury College), Alan Handy (Director of Automotive and Engineering at Shrewsbury College), Samantha Lindsay (Work Experience Co-ordinator at Shrewsbury College) and Jules Rhodes (Employer Partnerships Manager at Shrewsbury College), recently met at the College's Origins Restaurant to reflect on achievements so far and plan the exciting next stage of this growing collaboration.