Government funding of £800,000 has been awarded to Bournemouth & Poole College to offer free marine and automotive short training courses using cutting-edge equipment.

This is part of The Dorset Green Skills Hub, a joint partnership initiative with Weymouth College and Skills & Learning Adult Community Education.

The courses will introduce technicians to electric vehicle and boat engine technologies to ensure that these thriving sectors have the skills to facilitate the growth locally in sustainable, climate-friendly green technologies.

Skills & Learning Adult Community Education will create introductory routes to prime adults to join the green-skilled workforce needed in the future, while the benefit spreads across Dorset with Weymouth College launching a separate project strand.

Phil Sayles, principal at Bournemouth and Poole College, said: “We are delighted to launch the Dorset Green Skills Hub as it is set to deliver one of the key recommendations of the Green Jobs Taskforce, which is ‘no worker should be left behind by the training system.’

“These are essential skills for the rest of this decade and beyond. The project will allow companies’ engineers and technicians to engage and experiment with these new technologies and help them prepare for the future. These technologies will drive environmental benefits and the economy, and we need to ensure that local people have the skills to use them and will reap the rewards from this work.

“We see this project as the first of many, and the partners will use the Green Skills Hub concept to build our capabilities in the county over the next few years in a wider range of green skills. More people will be able to train for green technology roles, and we will see these technologies being added to a huge range of existing training programmes.”

The first series of free one- or two-day courses will run until 31 March 2023, and individuals following the automotive course route can achieve a Level 3 Award in electric and hybrid vehicle system repair and replacement.

On completion, students will receive a license to work on electric cars. Marine engineers and electricians undertaking the College’s British Marine-validated marine course in its renowned Marine Engineering Centre will gain a licence to work on electric boat engines.

For further details on the Dorset Green Skills Hub and courses available please visit www.thecollege.co.uk.