National College of High-Speed Rail – rebranded: National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure

Challenge:

The National College for Advanced Transport & Infrastructure (NCATI) is a state-of-the-art training facility based on two campuses in Birmingham and Doncaster. Relaunched in 2021 as part of the University of Birmingham group, NCATI provides the specialist training, skills and qualifications required to deliver transformational rail projects in the UK.

As a new College set up to create the rail workforce of the future, NCATI reached out to Learn by Design to help attract students to the growing market for civil engineers, systems engineers, and the innovation of digital designers.

Solution:

Learn by Design developed a range of interactive workshop sessions and a tour of facilities aimed at bringing the NCATI experience directly to school pupils from year 10 to year 13. Sixteen rail taster events were developed across the Doncaster and Birmingham campuses between January 2019 and March 2020, attracting 540 prospective learners. The events were marketed online, with a dedicated registration portal. The events were managed on the days by Learn by Design and evaluations forming part of the delivery process.

Legacy:

NCATI now have hundreds of graduates having completed courses and apprenticeships in rail. See here From October 2022, NCATI are running Skills Bootcamps in Rail funded by DfE for 6 weeks for all adults over 19 or over. See here