The Higher Education and Conference Centre at Redcar & Cleveland College got the Royal seal fof approval today (Tuesday 11th October) when it was officially opened by His Royal Highness The Duke Of Gloucester.

Developed in partnership with The Sir William Turners Trust Foundation and Teesside University, the £3.94m Centre offers students the opportunity from Redcar and beyond to study for accredited degree level courses in an environment specifically developed to meet their needs.

As part of his visit, the Duke met with students studying on the BTEC Extended Diploma in Engineering in the Centre and saw some of it’s high-tech equipment in action, including a robotic arm which is one of only two in the UK.

He then went on to unveil a plaque to mark the official opening of the Centre.

Commenting on his visit, His Royal Highness The Duke Of Gloucester said:

“It’s a very great pleasure for me to be here in Redcar to have the very pleasant task of officially opening this Higher Education and Conference Centre.

“It’s a great delight to me as an ex-architect to see a new building being put up to solve a particular problem and you now have a building at the cutting edge to provide exactly the right facilities that are needed for training the young people of the area.

“We need our young people to be able to do all sorts of tasks and to think for themselves. Facilities such as this will give them the knowledge and understanding to keep our companies ahead of the field and ahead of the competition.”

Principal of Redcar & Cleveland College, Gary Groom, said of the centre: “The opening of the Higher Education Centre marks an important step for the provision of education and training in the borough. The College is delighted that His Royal Highness has officially opened the new centre here today and has made such an important occasion for Redcar extra special

“By working with our partners, The Sir William Turner Foundation and Teesside University, we have been able to deliver a learning environment that goes beyond anything you would normally expect to find within a Further Education college.

“It will now be easier than ever for our students to progress through the college to obtain degree level qualifications and we are also looking forward to working with local business and industry to meet their training needs.

“Our focus for the centre is firmly upon providing the kind of courses that will be key in filling the future skills needs of employers within the region and it is great to see so many of our industry leaders here today to share the opening with us.”

John Coulthard, Chair of Governors at the college, said:

“It has been a great privilege to have His Royal Highness visit us today to officially open our new Higher Education and Conference Centre.

“It has been a great honour for the college and we hope that he enjoyed his visit to the college as much as we enjoyed playing host to him.”

Professor Graham Henderson, Vice Chancellor of Teesside University, said:

“The university has worked with the Sir William Turner Foundation and the college to deliver this Higher Education centre and we believe that it is going to do fantastic things.

“The centre at here Redcar, along with the four other university centres within the region’s colleges, makes higher level education more accessible that ever by bringing the offer to people’s doorsteps.

“This is a facility that is already adding value to the lives of people in this community and will continue to do so for many years to come.”

Peter Sotheran, Chair of the Sir William Turner Trust Foundation, said:

“The Trustees of the Sir William Turner Foundation are pleased and privileged to be associated with this new development and we hope that it will help Redcar & Cleveland College to continue raising aspirations and exceeding expectations.”

Teaching will focus on courses from within the emerging Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) sector, as well as the Built Environment, Business and Management, Care, Counselling and Health, Computing, Engineering, Sport and Teacher Education & Learner Support.