City MP and former education secretary visit ‘leading light’ UTC Portsmouth

Mr Morgan, the shadow schools minister, and former education secretary Lord Baker toured the state-of-the art facilities at UTC Portsmouth and met with students, staff, governors, and employers.

As part of his visit to the London Road-based University Technical College, the Portsmouth South MP met with student body presidents to discuss their experiences at the college.

Representatives from two of the ‘outstanding’ secondary school’s employer partners, IBM and Lockheed Martin, also spoke to him about how UTCs such as Portsmouth work in collaboration with industry partners to meet local needs and benefit the wider community.

An example of this is UTC Portsmouth’s ‘Outreach’ programme, where it partners with local primary schools to inspire their pupils to consider a career in a science and technology field.

Gatcombe Park Primary School pupils showed Mr Morgan and Lord Baker the projects they had completed with the UTC’s computer aided design equipment for a project on urban planning.

Year 12 students showcased their work designing a prototype moon base to allow for future space exploration and the founding of colonies on other planetary bodies.

This project was part of UTC Portsmouth’s engagement with the government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

UTC Portsmouth is part of a network of around 50 University Technical Colleges, located across England and supported by the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, co-founded by the late Lord Ron Dearing and its current chairman, Lord Baker.

UTC Portsmouth was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in 2021. Forty-eight per cent of its leavers progressed onto university in 2022, while 32 per cent progressed onto an apprenticeship. That compares to 37 per cent and seven per cent respectively in the local area.

The Department for Education is currently considering a bid by UTC Portsmouth to open a sister University Technical College in Southampton to meet growing local demand for high-quality technical education.

Mr Morgan said: ‘It was a pleasure to welcome Lord Baker to see the great work being done at UTC Portsmouth.

‘When I visit the college, I am always hugely impressed by the skills, knowledge and ambition of the students.

‘It was also great to see how the college is working with local businesses to prepare young people for the jobs of the future here in Portsmouth.

Lord Baker added: ‘UTC Portsmouth is one of the leading lights in the University Technical College programme.

‘It was excellent to see Stephen Morgan so engaged with students and staff and it is greatly encouraging that he understands the importance of a modern curriculum to meet an evidenced local need for skilled young professionals.

‘Portsmouth’s approach is replicated across the network of UTCs. We know this approach delivers successful outcomes for young people, with three-quarters of young people who left a UTC last year progressing onto apprenticeships or university.’