Gordon Hails University Centre Opening
Gordon joined the crowd of people at the opening of the new University Centre at Blackpool and the Fylde College’s campus off Bennett Avenue, hailing it as another important step in the regeneration of Blackpool.
‘As someone who was an Open University tutor for nearly 20 years and has been at the centre nationally in Parliament and elsewhere of supporting expansion of University studies via FE Colleges like ours, I’m delighted that we now have this elegantly designed £10million centre which will enormously boost the potential for people to study at all ages in higher education in Blackpool.’ Gordon said after the spectacular launch of the ‘Christmas present’ wrapped centre by Lord McNally of Blackpool.
Pauline Waterhouse, the chief executive, all her staff and the students are to be congratulated, not just on this latest achievement but on the consistent standards of excellence that the College is hitting. This will enormously strengthen our reputation for cutting-edge study in subjects such as photography, tourism, management, leisure and creative industries and give another boost to the rapidly rising numbers, nearly 2000 now of students doing HE courses in Blackpool. Its designation as an associate college of Lancaster University, whose degrees students at the new Centre will come out with, is a real feather in the College’s cap.’
‘I have always argued that step-changes like this are key to retaining more people who study in Blackpool to live and work here, and experience elsewhere in the country, and in the North-West especially shows that a strong higher studies presence helps kick-start businesses and entrepreneurship. I will be working closely as I have done in the past with Pauline and her colleagues to accelerate that process. And as chair of Parliament’s Skill Group of MPs I will continue to champion investment in higher education’s delivery via FE colleges. It’s a key route for our prosperity in the 21st century.'
