Preet Gill MP visits UCB to explore collaboration opportunities | News

December 2025

University welcomes MP to explore city-wide opportunities for young people

By Claire Huggins

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Member of parliament for Edgbaston recently visited University College Birmingham to see the scope and scale of our city-wide education provision and explore opportunities to collaborate.

Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill was welcomed by Professor Rosa Wells - FE Principal and Dean of STEM, for a guided tour of our campuses and to see how people living and working in her Birmingham constituency, could benefit from our expert-led tuition and industry-standard facilities.

Driven by her concern for local young people ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ (NEET), Ms Gill represents a constituency that includes a ward that is high in the deprivation index, Woodgate in Bartley Green, which recently received a significant funding boost from the Pride in Place government programme.

“I don’t want to see young people being written off and feeling like they have no hope,” she said.

“Being able to come out to hear about and see what exists in our city, and the pathways to opportunities, whether you’re a young person leaving school or whether you’re someone who wants to retrain as an adult, is a really brilliant thing for MPs to do.”

Main photo: Ms Gill begins her tour in the Centre for Sustainable Construction

Preet Gill MP is joined by staff on the tour

The Department for Sustainable Construction hosted a tour of the premises for Rosa and Ms Gill, who were joined by Rebecca Tigue, Sixth Form Centre Principal. As the group explored the campus, Ms Gill was introduced to a number of students working on plumbing, bricklaying and electrical projects, and stopped for a chat with Rome Pritchard (pictured), who shared with her his experiences of UCB and working towards his City & Guilds Level 2 Bricklaying course, alongside his English GCSE.

There was plenty to discuss throughout the visit; Ms Gill sought to understand how we work with industry to ensure building contracts tap into the pipeline of UCB students to fill the skills gaps and secure jobs for graduates. The challenges young people face today in finding opportunities for personal and professional development, and how confusing those options can be to someone who is uncertain about their future, were also discussed, as was the innovative approach to getting people upskilled and back into work, at the Chelmsley Starters culinary school and sister eatery, Bluebell Wood, in the Chelmsley Wood area of Solihull.

“Today’s visit helps me explain to the young people I visit in school, what options are out there,” said Ms Gill.

“I encourage students, their families and schools to come into the city, pop in to visit open days and see what’s on offer. It’s important to try and build those networks and relationships to ensure that they’re getting good quality information about what choices exist.”

"To think that you are providing people who didn’t make the grades with a warm welcome, support measures and the message that you are not writing them off, is something to celebrate in this city."

Preet Gill Labour MP for Birmingham Edgbaston

The tour continued as Ms Gill visited the Sixth Form Centre, Camden House, and the training kitchens in Summer Row, before concluding at an informal ‘meet and greet’ with students in the Restaurant at Birmingham College of Food.

“We’re always delighted to welcome MPs and Councillors in to see what we’re doing,” added Rosa Wells.

“We are relatively unique in that we welcome both young people and adult learners to learn and train with us. We work hard to create progression routes so we can support people with their aspirations and next steps, not just in Birmingham, but right across the region.
“To get to showcase all this and give our students the chance to talk about what they’re passionate about is really important.”

Ms Gill was keen to champion the value she felt UCB and other institutions like us can offer: “To think that you are providing people who didn’t make the grades with a warm welcome, support measures and the message that you are not writing them off, is something to celebrate in this city.”

You can follow Preet Gill's work in her weekly updates.