Thousands of youngsters are set to take advantage of Fife College’s new state-of-the-art campus in Leven.
Integrated as part of the £44 million Levenmouth Academy school, which opened its doors to pupils last week, the new campus is a first for Scotland, aimed at training teenagers with work-ready skills, whilst also acting as a hub for the wider community.
Ahead of welcoming students later this month, Janet McCauslin, director of projects at Fife College, said that developing science, technology, engineering and mathematical skills, so-called STEM subjects, would provide young people with the abilities that employers desperately sought in potential employees.
Having nurtured the project from its inception, she added that she was incredibly excited about the possibilities the new campus presented.
“STEM subjects underpin everything here,” she said.
“We didn’t want to make it feel like a school because that is not the purpose.
“We wanted the building to be something different.
“We want students to be training and learning for real work experiences.”
As many as 500 students a week will use the campus when classes begin.
Along with community computer facilities, a maths lab, and hair and beauty salon, catering students will be learning in fully-equipped training kitchens, preparing food for the campus bistro.
A large emphasis is focused on engineering, with state-of-the-art machinery, some even more advanced than in many workplaces, in the process of being unwrapped ahead of the arrival of students.
Iain Dewar, project leader, said: “More employers are wanting to recruit people with ability instead of just academic knowledge.
“This campus is taking that further and giving young people the opportunity to be far more work ready than ever before.”
Mrs McCauslin said that the new campus would provide a clearer link between higher education and the workplace than ever seen before in Scotland, adding: “We just want to attract as many people here as possible.
“I was there when we started our campus in Rosyth 16 years ago.
“We had a lot of students but employers just didn’t go there, but now we have employers going there to meet with apprentices.”
