The Department for Education (DfE) has published the Institutes of Technology (IoT) Wave Two Prospectus. As mentioned in the Guardian in September 2019, the Prospectus confirms the Government’s commitment to establish a further eight Institutes of Technology.
Applicants will be expected to submit high quality capital proposals that can deliver industry-standard facilities and equipment leading to high-quality provision. Proposed facilities will need to be agile enough to accommodate changing employer and learner demands. Proposals can cover new build investment or upgrades and improvements to existing assets.
All prospective IoTs will also have to meet the following critical success factors:
- Strong employer engagement in governance and leadership as well as the design and delivery of the curriculum.
- Specialise in teaching technical STEM disciplines, at Level 4 and above, creating a technical education pathway to high skilled, high wage employment.
- Offer high quality industry-relevant teaching, using industry standard facilities and equipment.
- Be responsive and agile in meeting the current and future needs of local, regional and national industries, including upskilling the current workforce.
- Create a prestigious and distinct identity for both the institution and the offer to learners.
- Work collaboratively to harness the assets, resources and expertise of employers and FE and HE providers.
- Be financially viable, resilient and credible.
Only proposals from the following 20 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) areas that do not have an IoT following the announcement of successful Wave One applications in 2019 are eligible to apply:
- Cumbria
- Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
- Cheshire & Warrington
- Coast to Capital
- Coventry & Warwickshire
- Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire (D2N2)
- Dorset
- Enterprise M3
- Greater Manchester
- Hertfordshire
- Lancashire
- Leeds City Region
- Leicester & Leicestershire
- Liverpool City Region
- New Anglia
- Sheffield City Region
- Solent
- South East
- Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire
- Worcestershire
Potential applicants parties should register their interest using the expression of interest form contained in the Prospectus and email it to the IoT team at the DfE by Monday 16 March 2020.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you want to discuss either the IoT application process based on my experience of working on a successful Wave One application or how I can support you to prepare and submit an expression of interest or subsequent application to establish an IoT.