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In the run up to Global Enterprise Week, Newbury College students took part in locally run programmes to inspire students to explore their potential as self-starters and innovators.

Students took part in Champions of Enterprise, a two day programme run in partnership with the Education Business Partnership on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 November. Students spent the days reviewing and analysing possible business ventures with the support of local entrepreneurs before judges decided which business to invest in.

Skills Project Mentor Sian Ellis, who organised the event said, We are grateful to all those who have helped make this event a success for our students. It has been a fantastic opportunity for them to put their enterprise skills into practice, supported by the knowledge and experience of local businesses.

College students also participated in Thames Valley Tech Week, a programme run by ConnectTVT, which saw three different Colleges host events over the course of the week. Newbury College hosted an event on Thursday 12 November, where teams of students competed against one another to create and present a business proposal with the help of business experts.

The winning team of Champions Enterprise made up of two Business students, an IT student and an Art Student, will progress to the finals of the competition challenging local schools for the winning place at The Regency Park Hotel on Tuesday 8 December. While judges of the Thames Valley Tech event were so impressed with the innovative products the teams had come up with, three of the four teams were presented
with £300 from sponsors Telefonica to progress their idea further over the next 6 months with the programme.

The events were hosted in order to enhance students' enterprise skills and give them an insight into how a business is set up and run; and the factors that makes businesses successful.

Global Entrepreneurship Week runs each November and is the world's largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch start-ups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. This year the event is ran from Monday 16 November ' Sunday 22 November.

Newbury College GCSE student Barnaby Lister has recently become a Young Ambassador for Variety, the Children's Charity.

Newbury College will be opening its doors to the public at its first Open Evening of the academic year on Tuesday 10 November 4pm ' 8pm. Whether you wish to further your education with a vocational course, take your GCSEs or A Levels, start an HE qualification or develop your career with a part time course Newbury College can help you decide.

Visitors to the College will be able to meet with course tutors and take part in a range of interactive activities from receiving a complimentary manicure to vegetable carving and photo-shop techniques. Current students will be on hand on the night to discuss their experiences with the College and to take visitors on tours of the state of the art facilities which will include the motor vehicle, engineering and plumbing workshops; computing and media suites; hair-dressing and beauty salons; art workshops; animal care unit; professional kitchen; training restaurant and sports hall.

For those interested in an Apprenticeship there will be talks to de-mystify apprenticeships and explain the benefits of on-the-job training, at 5pm and 7pm, while those interested in working at the College can discover the opportunities available in recruitment sessions running at 6pm and 7pm.

The event will also see the launch of the College's new Full Time Prospectus which details the wide range of courses on offer for next year including, GCSE and A Level courses, vocational courses, traineeships, apprenticeship and Higher Education options.

For more information about the Open Evening, or for any other queries please call 01635 845000

Newbury College is one of three Berkshire institutions selected to become solutions labs' which are designed to raise the quality and profile of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills across the Thames Valley in and respond to the needs of the local economy.

Investment for the Solutions Lab comes as a result of a successful bid from Newbury College to the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership's Local Growth Fund and will focus exclusively on creating resources for fusion, mechanical and electrical engineering that are currently unavailable within Berkshire colleges.

Dr Anne Murdoch OBE, Principal of Newbury College says: We are absolutely delighted to receive this support from the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP, via the Growth Deal, for our proposed Solutions Lab. This new facility will be a great addition for local employers who, along with Newbury College students, will use the Lab to research and develop products for their own industries.

The Solutions Lab will have very high-specification machinery which will help Newbury College research, design and manufacture components for a variety of local innovators. This facility is a great complement to Newbury College's existing high-quality facilities which our students − who are the workforce of the future ' can use to good effect.

More details about the Growth Deal can be found on the Thames Valley LEP website.

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