***Apologies for any cross-posting***
Dear Colleagues
The UfI have just announced a call for proposals from consortia (called HUBS) from educational, business and training providers to establish and run a network of learning centres, which will form a central part of the University for Industry. The call states that these Learning Centres will:
* be the point of public access to UfI services
* provide local learning facilities, especially PC workstations
* deliver UfI learner support services
The announcement means that money will be available shortly for applicants who meet the bidding criteria. The calls states that,
'The Ufi has been created against a backcloth of related initiatives. The Centres of Excellence and Skill Challenge initiative has provided some £60 million for capital and network infrastructure necessary to support flexible learning. The ADAPT/Ufi initiative has provided an additional £170 million (including matched funding) to prove various aspects of the Ufi model. There has been a major allocation made to schools to establish networked PC's with Internet access and to train teachers in their use.
The New Opportunities fund is providing £280 million targeted at training teachers and librarians in the use of technology and a further £200 million towards providing the right infrastructure. This means there are already many Learning Centres that are well equipped to become Ufi Learning Centres, and in formulating outline proposals you should take that fully into account in your thinking.
Following the budget announcement made by the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, David Blunkett, gave details on 11 March of a £400 million Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) package to raise school standards and modernise the skills of the workforce in England for the information age. The package included support for the establishment of around 700 new IT Learning Centres in England aimed at improving access to ICT. The Government will want many of these to
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