LSBU's new Passmore Centre set to boost Southwark apprenticeships
LSBU's Passmore Centre, the University's new business and networking hub for high quality professional and technical courses, is set to open in the autumnLondon South Bank University (LSBU) received £5million from Southwark Council to help create the Passmore Centre, which will support apprenticeships, skills and training in the borough. A further £3million funding has come from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) along with £4million from LSBU's own funds, which will be used to expand the facilities needed to deliver higher and degree apprenticeships.
The creation of the new Passmore Centre demonstrates our strong commitment to supporting learners and apprenticeships in Southwark, while enabling Southwark Council to realise its aim of creating 2,000 apprenticeships by 2020 and strengthen the local economy.
We envisage 2,000 students will be undertaking apprenticeships at the University every year by 2020. Around 600 of these are expected to achieve higher degree apprenticeship qualifications or the equivalent. By 2023, the aim is to have helped roughly 1,000 Southwark residents to graduate from a high quality apprenticeship programme that will give them the skills demanded to tackle the jobs of the future.
The Passmore Centre will have a specific focus on employer engagement, providing a ‘one stop shop’ to help employers access information about apprenticeships and potential apprentices. The Centre will also offer space for employer meetings, community engagement and teaching facilities.
As with the Clarence Centre - a local Grade II listed Georgian pub and adjacent buildings that the University spent £13million on converting in 2013 - this latest project will also contribute to the preservation of Elephant and Castle’s heritage. The refurbishment of the Passmore Edwards Library on Borough Road will bring this handsome, listed Victorian building back into use after many years on the council’s register of endangered buildings.
Read more about LSBU and Southwark Council's plans for the Passmore Centre.