Food and drink skills academy continues to expand

Six new training providers have been accredited to join the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Food and Drink Manufacturing.

Duchy College in Cornwall, Leicester College, Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA), Tameside College in Ashton-under-Lyne, the College of North West London and Brooksby College in Melton Mowbray have all been awarded academy status, after submitting formal applications earlier this year.

They will join the existing six providers that comprise the Network of Excellence, which forms the core of the NSA, delivering high-quality training programmes to the 500,000 employees in the food and drink manufacturing sector.

It is anticipated that 45 training providers across the UK will have been accredited as part of the network by 2009. Each approved provider will specialise under the academy banner. Duchy College has successfully applied to specialise in the areas dairy, meat and poultry, and rural and regional food production. Brooksby College will specialise in rural and regional food production, and the College of North West London in food and drink manufacture. CCFRA, Leicester College and Tameside will all specialise in bakery and confectionery.

Justine Fosh, director of the NSA for Food and Drink Manufacturing, said: “This is a major step forward in the development of the NSA, which will ultimately have accredited training centres across the whole of the UK, specialising in every area of food and drink manufacture.

“The NSA will bring together existing training organisations that are acknowledged as leaders in their field, and where pioneering research and development in training is constantly undertaken. There is in place a rigorous accreditation process to ensure that the network comprises only the very best organisations, in which the delivery of training is second to none.

“Employers and learners will therefore be safe in the knowledge that, through the NSA, they are benefiting from top-quality training.”