Education

Good Education Supports a Healthy Skills Base

The majority of education services in Cornwall have had their overall effectiveness judged as 'good' or 'better' by the national inspection teams. Cornwall's young people also enjoy an exceptionally rich range of extra-curricular possibilities:

World-class cultural centres such as the Eden Project, Tate St Ives and the National Maritime Museum Cornwall work closely with the county's schools and colleges to provide unique learning opportunities
Sports provision in Cornish schools is amongst the best in the UK. The Cornwall Outdoors programme runs eight residential centres, mainly along the Cornish coastline, where qualified instructors help teenagers develop a range of skills including sailing, climbing, team-building and problem-solving
The Music Service supports the highest quality of music education, providing instrumental tuition at all levels and styles to schools, colleges and music centres throughout Cornwall. The Service also directs a variety of orchestras and ensembles for all abilities

Cornwall offers a wide range of educational opportunities at secondary level. All of the county's comprehensives have been awarded specialist school status in subject areas including technology, languages and sport, and there are also several highly-rated private schools.

Combined Universities in Cornwall

In the past decade around £200 million has been invested in higher education in Cornwall. This support has enabled the six universities and colleges working in the county to grow and to develop their own strengths and specialisms. These universities and colleges work closely together through the Combined Universities in Cornwall initiative to ensure that this wealth of knowledge creates opportunities for the people, opportunities and businesses of Cornwall to prosper.

The partners in Combined Universities in Cornwall are:

University of Exeter - A top 10 UK university, with strengths in geography, biology, politics, modern Celtic studies, law, mining and renewable energy, including a special focus on marine renewable energy.
University of Plymouth - The Enterprise University, with strengths in advanced composites manufacturing, agrifood science and technology, creative industries, entrepreneurship, environmental technologies, health and social care, marine science, engineering and technology, social and market research and art.
University College Falmouth - A renowned specialist design, art, media and performance institution with plans to become Arts University Cornwall in the next few years.
Peninsula Medical School - The UK's fastest growing medical school with a burgeoning research reputation.
Peninsula Dental School - The first new dental school in 40 years, developed with the same approach and ethos that have underpinned the remarkable success of the Peninsula Medical School.
Truro & Penwith College - Offers core business and specialist skills in media, humanities, sciences, performance, ICT, sports science, social care and public services, health and beauty, environment and public health.
Cornwall College - Provides business skills and management development, regulatory training, employment law, environmental management, sales, marketing and business studies, accountancy, law, IT, tourism and manufacturing.
Duchy College - Delivers business and management training for land-based industries through its Rural Business School and Food Innovation Service, with specialist facilities and practitioners in food processing, specialist consultancy and training. Duchy College is part of Cornwall College.

Between them the partners in Combined Universities in Cornwall operate at 13 campuses across Cornwall.

Business Support and Collaboration

The Combined Universities in Cornwall project has already given a huge boost to the Cornish economy. It should provide some 4,000 additional student places by 2010, and these alone are forecast to create over 1,000 extra jobs and £31 million in economic turnover.

And that's not the only good news for business. In fact, CUC has the interests of economic development right at its heart, and will help accomplish this by:

Promoting best practice and world-class competitiveness - particularly in the creative industries and environmental and earth sciences
Fostering innovation in design and technology - focusing especially on high-growth, knowledge-based businesses
Technology and knowledge transfer - using the expertise and knowledge of teaching staff and students to help businesses develop and grow
Supporting business networking and clustering - promoting the sharing of knowledge and resources between companies in the same fields and encouraging the development of dynamic groupings of Cornwall-based businesses in particular sectors
Providing bespoke training and workforce development - companies will be able to call on a wide range of resources from the CUC partner institutions to develop comprehensive training packages for their personnel