College opens £2.7m facilities to give students a hi-tech future
New precision livestock unit and Digital Skills Academy help to point the way ahead
ASKHAM Bryan College in York has officially launched two new facilities designed to train students in the latest high-tech industry skills.
Around 35 business, education and civic leaders attended the opening of a £1.7m precision livestock facility and a £1m Digital Skills Academy last week.
Tim Whitaker, chief executive officer and principal at Askham Bryan College, said: “We are delighted to have formally opened our exciting new high-tech facilities that will benefit our students and employers.
“Individually and collectively, we are all custodians for our environment and the demand for sympathetic management of that environment, be it for food production, environmental protection, crisis management or future planning, will be paramount to a stable, sustainable future.
“It is vital that our curriculum keeps pace and equips our students with new higher level technical skills that support the region’s employers.”
The £1.7m precision livestock facility has been funded by the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology.
Comprising a calf rearing facility and beef grower unit, as well as a teaching and learning space, the state-of-the-art equipment is being used by diploma and degree level students studying at University Centre Askham Bryan.
The facility takes a fully digitised approach to sustainable high welfare farming. Students complete research and make animal husbandry and welfare decisions based on real time data. This includes recording
each animal’s growth and health including its food and water intake via electronic wearable devices.
The £1m Digital Skills Academy is funded by York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership through the Government’s Getting Building Fund. The academy focuses on equipping students, and those already in the workforce, with enhanced skills in line with emerging digital technology industry trends.
The facilities include immersive technology such as virtual reality
headsets, augmented reality, as well as environmental management applications of lidar scanning.
During the official opening, guests took part in a tour of the new facilities and spoke with students and staff.
Stakeholders attending included local and regional employers as well as representatives from the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership, City of York Council, the Education and
Skills Funding Agency, Landex, the Young Farmers’ Club and the University of York.
David Dickson, chair of York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership’s Place & Infrastructure Board, said: “The Digital Skills Academy is an excellent development. It gives the current and future workforce the tools they need to flourish.
“York and North Yorkshire has ambitions to be a greener, fairer and stronger economy, and schemes such as these will help us get there.”
Student Fran Shaw, who is completing a BSc Honours Degree in Agriculture at the college, commented: “Working with the new technology allows me to develop the emerging skills to take into the industry and gain an advantage to get the job that I want.”
The Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Technology comprises a regional consortium of colleges, universities and employers with a £14m capital investment from the Department for Education.