University launches new professional training company
Lord Green
The University of Salford has launched a new subsidiary company to provide learning and professional development for industry in the North West, UK and internationally.
Salford Professional Development Limited was launched at the UKTI Global Business Summit of Education today (1 August). The company aims to turn over £5 million and will create 10 jobs, plus an estimated 300 jobs across the North West through the economic benefits generated by enhancing workers’ skills and productivity.
The company draws on 100 years of educational excellence to provide courses and personal development support for private, public and not-for-profit organisations in the UK and overseas. The courses will focus on the University’s specialist areas of the built environment, digital and media, energy and health and well-being. Tailor-made courses will also be developed for businesses.
Salford Professional Development will facilitate links between business and industry in north-west Britain and companies and clients in India, China, the Middle East and Africa – areas in which the university already has strong links through international student recruitment and research and development partnerships.
UK Trade and Investment Minister Lord Green said: "I warmly congratulate the University of Salford on the launch of their subsidiary Salford Professional Development. This new company is an excellent example of why the UK is a leading international provider of educational services.
"With the world's spotlight on the UK this summer, we are working hard through the British Business Embassy programme to help education establishments, businesses and governments create opportunities to deliver high-quality British-style education to international students and businesses, both in the UK and around the world."
Dr Adrian Graves, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Project Sponsor, said: “The launch of this company marks an important moment for the University, heralding the start of a new, consistent approach to the administration, marketing and management of high value, demand-led training. Building on the success of our existing continuous professional development offering, Salford Professional Development Ltd will be viewed as a recognised brand - across the North West but with aspirations to deliver its programmes abroad.”
Launch programmes include courses developed in collaboration with Envirolink, aligned to the construction and energy industries leading on sustainability, retrofit and low carbon building design and using The Energy House, a terraced house which has been reconstructed in a fully environmentally controllable chamber, in which climatic conditions can be maintained, varied, repeated and patterns monitored for learning and research.
The company will build on the successful collaborations the university has in place with a range of industry-leading companies such as BT, Adobe and Avid. Many of the courses, including in broadcast and digital media, will also be delivered at MediaCityUK, next door to the BBC, at the heart of the North West’s digital hub.
