News:
| Funding Boost for First Milk Academy |
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In a major boost, First Milk Academy and The Royal Agricultural College have secured funding of nearly £90,000* from the Higher Skills project. This is one of three pathfinder projects initiated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), with the aim of developing demand-led education for business. The project gives employers the opportunity to provide flexible training for their employees, who can work towards college-level awards as part of their professional development. The approach also aims to test how college programmes can be developed, packaged and marketed to create funding partnerships between employers, learners and providers.  This funding will be used to progress our Professional Development Workshops as well as providing course materials, project implementation and the setting up of a Key Performance Indicator database. It will also give our members the opportunity to provide flexible training for themselves or their dairy/herd person who can work towards recognised qualifications.On the Business Club front (which are held in partnership with the MDC), we’ve now got 37 dotted around the country – as you can see from the map. We reckon that around 400 members have benefited directly from attending with other members also gaining from associated technical articles and reports. There are obviously gaps in our milk fields and we would particularly like to see more clubs in Cumbria..... so the good news is that more are on their way. By March 2009, we’re aiming to have established a further 13 clubs nationwide. And remember, whatever subject areas you think will benefit you, then we will cover them together! Tom Campbell, Chairman of First Milk Academy, is keen to encourage more members to take part in Business Clubs: “An increasing number of members are hearing about the benefits of attending the Business Clubs. Normally we like to have around ten members attending per club but at my local business club recently, 20 turned up! They had heard from the neighbours that it was good for working through and helping to solve problems and for learning best practice from others.” * The funds granted are £78,875 from the Pathfinder project which aims to develop Higher Level provision for its members, in addition to £10,000 from the Western Vocational Lifelong Learning Network Calling all members in West Wales. Want to brush up on your fertility skills? We had been planning to hold just one Professional Development fertility workshop in February in West Wales but demand has been so high, we are now planning to hold a session in March too. We are looking for more members to add their name to the list so tell your Area Manager if you are interested.
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