Some would say that Lord Kenneth Baker is an eminent historical political influence who changed the face of education during his time as Education Secretary, however to the network of University Technical Colleges (UTC’s) he is one of the founding partners of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust. Lord Baker and Lord Dearing had a vision to fill a gap that they had seen develop over a number of years to provide young people with a technical education. They founded the concept of University Technical Colleges to fulfil that vision. UTC South Durham had the pleasure of welcoming Lord Baker on Thursday 16th March 2017 for the day.
During his visit Lord Baker met students and industry partners to find out just what UTC South Durham means to them and why they decided to study and support a challenging academic technical curriculum. Lord Baker said – “I particularly enjoy coming to visit all of the new UTC’s across the country. Having UTC South Durham, the first one in the North East is just wonderful. Talking to the students is one of my highlights and I appreciate their enthusiasm for choosing to engage in a technical education’. Jess Winkworth, Year 12 student said ‘It was really nice to meet Lord Baker and to hear about his vision of students receiving a UTC education and why that is so important to our economy. I am so pleased that I chose to come to the UTC as it is really supporting my decision to pursue my career of becoming a mechanical engineer.’
