Greater opportunities for young people to pursue careers in the creative and digital industries are to be offered by GB Met College thanks to support from Worthing Borough Council.
Creative industries in the UK generate more than £100bn a year to the UK economy and employ more than 2m people.
To ensure local people have the right access to skills needed within creative industries, Worthing Borough Council has loaned £5 million to GB Met. This funding will support the creation of a major new digital and creative industry centre in Brighton and development of a range of degree courses at the Worthing campus.
Councillor Daniel Humphreys, Leader of Worthing Borough Council and chairman of Greater Brighton, heard more about the plans during a tour of the campus with CEO GB Met Nick Juba.
Cllr Daniel Humphreys said:
“We’ve been able to facilitate millions of pounds of investment into GB Met, which has helped bring all that extra provision, right here into their West Durrington campus in Worthing, which has been fantastic, and I think it can only get bigger and better in the future to the benefit of the education sector, and the residents here in Worthing.”
In the last three years 1,142 students from Adur and Worthing have studied at the Pelham Campus in Brighton. The new facility would allow the college to locate all its creative industries higher education programmes in West Durrington, in partnership with the University of Arts London.
From September next year GB Met plans to become the only college in the country to offer University of the Arts London validated degrees to all of its Creative Industries undergraduates. The University is ranked the second best university in the world for art & design.
In granting the loan to GB Met the Council would be working towards delivering its commitment to championing the development of learning and skills in the borough.
Chief Executive of Greater Brighton Metropolitan College, Nick Juba, said:
“It’s a once in a generation opportunity for us. It means that we can make a proper investment in buildings, in facilities, in teaching and learning around digital and creative industries and there one of the most important sectors for us, locally, in Worthing in Brighton and across Greater Brighton but nationally as well.
“And I think as well as those specific skills for students who want to work in those industries, everybody needs digital skills now. It’s essential in almost any role in almost any industry.
“So the idea that here in Worthing, in Brighton and across Greater Brighton we invest in that, feels really, really important.”
Photos: Cllr Daniel Humphreys, Leader of Worthing BC and chairman of Greater Brighton, and Nick Juba, CEO GB Met
