13 October 2005
Tony Blair saw first-hand the work being carried out by plumbing students on a visit to see one of the country’s leading vocational training centres.
He spent the afternoon at Central Sussex College, formed when Crawley College and Haywards Heath College merged in August.
Unveiling a plaque to mark the official opening of the college, he said the most important resource for any country was its ‘human capital’ - and a country could not succeed unless it invested properly in it.
Central Sussex College was a symbol of what the government was trying to achieve in higher education, he said.
"There’s a big investment that we are putting in but we have to keep it going. The world is moving on at great speed."
Well-educated
Reflecting on his recent visits to India and China, the PM observed that these nations were producing huge numbers of well-educated graduates.
"What was interesting was that these countries, which we think of as cheap-labour, low-wage countries, are now moving into highly-skilled areas.
"To put it in context, China is producing 600,000 science and computer graduates every year. That’s the size of all the EU nations put together."
"Where ever you are in the world today, education and training in schools is going to be the future."
Investment
With more than 1,000 staff and 18,000 full and part-time students, Central Sussex College is in the middle of a £30 million investment scheme.
It already has centres of excellence in care, construction and retail while training areas for engineering and cultural industries are to follow.
Earlier, Mr Blair joked with youngsters learning to be plumbers, saying to one who was fixing a tap: "I am always looking to learn but I am definitely not trying that!"
He was given a demonstration of the skills being learnt in their state-of-the-art training centre.
Extra information
- See a gallery of exclusive images from the event
- Central Sussex College (opens in new window)
- Department for Education and Skills (opens in new window)
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