Maintenance engineers from two of Shropshire’s biggest employers have put their soldering skills to the test as part of a new series of short courses at Telford College.

The staff, from Muller Dairies and Denso Manufacturing, were invited to complete modules of a microsoldering and PCB design short course which is due to be officially launched at the Wellington campus in September.

“The two companies have worked closely with us to help develop this new suite of courses, so we invited some of their staff to try out the curriculum,” explained Robert Lees, Telford College’s director of automotive, construction and engineering.

“We wanted them to give us feedback on this, and several other modules, ahead of the official launch to ensure it meets the skills training needs of the local economy.”

The courses are being delivered by the college as part of the Marches Education Partnership, a collaboration between further education and training providers across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Herefordshire.

Funding has been provided by the Government’s Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) to address specific skills needs identified in the latest Local Skills Improvement Plan.

It will see the launch of 14 new training centres and the creation of at least 30 new courses to meet what the partners describe as some of the region’s ‘most significant sectors’, working closely with local employers.

Mr Lees said: “We are running 16 different short courses at Telford College as part of the LSIF project, and the Muller and Denso engineers sampled modules which focus on printed circuit board design and repair and micro soldering techniques.

“They completed a six-hour short course involving foundation soldering and PCB design with a mix of theory and practical elements. The later courses will expand on this subject with more advanced knowledge and skills.”

He added: “We are investing £500,000 in upgrading our engineering facilities at Telford College to deliver these programmes, ready for the full suite of 16 courses to be available from September.”

For more details about the programmes, or to download a prospectus of all the Marches Education Partnership courses, see marches-education.co.uk.