Industry specialisms
Working with all businesses, the College is actively seeking partnerships in the digital sector, diverse engineering disciplines (particularly aeronautical and space), healthcare, construction, and sustainable technologies (air source heat pumps, solar and retrofit technologies), preparing workers for the growing green economy.
Businesses are engaged through cutting-edge facilities in electric and hydrogen vehicle testing, engineering (mechanical, electrical, electronic, aeronautical, and space), and advanced healthcare training suites. Professional laboratory spaces and extensive construction workshops are also available for industry collaboration and training support.
Expert staff are ready to support local workforce development needs, providing both entry-level training and advanced expertise opportunities, offering flexible learning pathways that combine technical and basic skills development.
Adult upskilling programmes are also offered, focusing on essential workplace competencies including literacy, numeracy, and digital. This supports career changers, existing workers or those unemployed to enhance their fundamental skills.
Key facilities and capabilities
The College operates from three main campuses in the heart of Leicester, plus community venues, offering comprehensive facilities across a range of sectors.
Industry-standard environments include working hospital wards, science laboratories, construction and engineering workshops, and classrooms equipped with cutting-edge AR/VR technology. The Engineering centre houses state-of-the-art CAD/CAM equipment and robotics labs. Business and Law students benefit from spaces reflecting real workplace environments. The construction centre features dedicated trade spaces, from electrical and plumbing to carpentry and bricklaying.
Other training facilities include a fine-dining restaurant, commercial hair and beauty salons plus a Creative Arts space with live theatre and media suites.
These facilities, along with their Wigston and Harrowbrook campuses, provide students with real-life work experiences and ensure businesses have access to a skilled, ready-to-work talent pool.
Get in touch
Tina Mistry, Business Development and Account Manager
tmistry@leicestercollege.ac.uk
Debi Donnarumma, Vice Principal Study Programmes and Apprenticeships
ddonnarumma@leicestercollege.ac.uk
Hannah Georg, Head of Marketing and Communications
Deepa Doshi, Apprenticeships System Co-ordinator
For more information visit:
Case Study: Halfords Autocentre
Apprentices help Halfords Autocentres to keep vehicles on the road. Every year, almost a million people use a Halfords Autocentre. It’s the nation’s leading MOT, car service, repairs and tyres specialist. Halfords Autocentre has been employing apprentices for 30 years. In 2022,it took on its first intake from Leicester College. Rhoda Lee, Group Apprenticeship Manager for Halfords, said: “We currently employ three apprentices from Leicester College. We asked the College to advertise the vacancies and they came back to us with around 12-15 potential students. “They were all of a very high calibre and, while we only had positions for three of them, we could have taken on ten. “Following a skills assessment, we offer students up to five days work experience where they shadow the colleagues in the centre. This gives both them and us the chance to see if it’s a good fit. “Once we take on an apprentice, we work very closely with Leicester College. The team there has been really supportive.”
Case Study: Nylacast Engineering Apprenticeships
Nylacast helps Leicester College students build a career in engineering. Nylacast, the engineered polymer specialist, has partnered with Leicester College for several years to help students kick start a career in engineering. Students can get ahigh-quality hands-on experience through a number of apprenticeships and training courses that Nylacast offers, while expanding on their learning at Leicester College. Based in Leicester, Nylacast headquarters opened its award-wining training academy in spring 2014 and spent the last decade investing in more people and machinery. It now has three dedicated internal resources and machinery from hobby lathes, manual machines and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines where budding students can hone their skills.
Ian Mallabone, Group HR and Training Manager at Nylacast, says: “Our training academy has been vital to us as a business as the engineering sector has struggled with engineering apprentices in the last two decades. We recognised that quite early on and started to bring in apprentices about 14years ago. We now have a dedicated space where we can take apprentices through a four-year programme in just one area of the business and it’s absolutely vital to us as the engineering market becomes even more competitive.”