UTC Swindon, the town’s yet-to-open university technical college, has appointed its first principal. Angela Barker-Dench will take on the role from September and lead the college during its set-up year and the first intake of students in September 2014.
Angela, started her career in engineering, has experience of technical and vocational education having served as vice-principal at Berkshire College of Agriculture and Capel Manor College in Enfield, where she currently works.
She also has expertise in liaising between vocational education, industry and higher education, and knows Swindon, having worked in a senior post at Swindon College.
UTC Swindon will teach 14 to 19-year-old students engineering alongside a core academic curriculum. The concept is to make it more like a modern industrial workplace than a college, with hands-on experience and employer engagement which will produce the highly-qualified engineers of the future.
Once in post, Angela will immediately start work on managing the opening of the college, ensuring that plans are fully in place for the first students, who walk through the doors at the start of term in September 2014.
Work on enrolling students is now beginning, with the first of a series of open meetings scheduled for 6.30pm on Thursday 11 July at Swindon’s STEAM Museum. One of Angela’s key tasks next year will be to support students through their applications.
Angela said: “It is a tremendous honour to be announced as the first principal of UTC Swindon. I am excited about the prospect of helping students to gain a high-quality education within a distinctive learning environment. I can’t wait to get started.”
Paul Inman, UTC Swindon director and pro-vice Chancellor for Oxford Brookes University – one of the UTC’s two main sponsors – said: “Having seen a particularly strong field of candidates, it was clear to the UTC Trust that Angela Barker-Dench was the right person for the job. The partners involved in the development of UTC Swindon have made significant progress to date and this latest announcement is an important step as we move closer to opening in September 2014. We look forward to Angela joining us for what is an exciting new educational facility which will produce the next generation of engineers.”
Fellow UTC Swindon director Paul Holmes, automation and mechanical design manager for Swindon-based Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells – the second main sponsor – added: “We are delighted to be offering Angela the position of principal, as she has tremendous experience and expertise within education and engineering. UTC Swindon will create fantastic opportunities for young people, employers and industry and it is important that such an innovative development has strong and inspirational leadership. We are confident that Angela will take on the challenge of creating an exciting new educational facility for Swindon, Wiltshire and the wider region to be proud of.”
