Unique partnership between Greater Manchester colleges showcases inaugural event

Greater Manchester College Group

Ten Further Education colleges (Bolton, Bury, Hopwood Hall, Manchester, Oldham, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan & Leigh) in the Greater Manchester City region have joined forces to host their first major event, a Leading Teaching and Learning Conference, on 2 July.

Together the colleges have created the Greater Manchester College Group (GMCG) who have established a joint venture company, making it the first of its kind in a city region. Committed to delivering high quality education and skills provision, GMCG represents and promotes the Further Education sector within Greater Manchester. With the ten colleges contributing more than £500 million to the Greater Manchester economy each year, they play a key role in securing the region’s economic wellbeing.

The inaugural GMCG conference taking place at Lancashire Country Cricket Ground, will celebrate, share and discuss innovative teaching, learning and leadership practices. This full-day conference features leading teaching and learning speakers from around the world, including Bill Lucas, Deb Masters and Michael Sheehan.

Approximately 360 teaching and learning professionals will join these internationally-renowned educational speakers and benefit from a series of workshops on outstanding teaching and learning practices. This major focus on expertise in educational leadership, teaching and learning will enable these professionals to share good practice and learn from each other, benefitting current and future learners across Greater Manchester.

The GMCG serves the needs of 128,000 learners each year, from young people through to adults, with more than 5,000 students studying for higher level qualifications at their local college.

It has networks of public and private sector partners and customers and works with over 10,000 businesses, supporting more than 5,000 of their staff through Apprenticeships and training.

Since 2010, the ten colleges have worked closely together to explore the benefits of this partnership to inspire their students, industry partners and local communities and help to ensure that collectively there is a strategic focus for Further Education in Greater Manchester. Other GMCG objectives include working with government, other agencies, large companies and organisations to run projects that achieve an impact locally and regionally.