Collaborative Partnerships

Bury College University Centre works in collaboration with the University of Cumbria, University of Huddersfield, The University of Salford and Pearson Education. These agreements allow us to deliver a wide range of courses that are constantly reviewed to reflect the needs of students and the job market.

Courses attract a range of students; from those who have just completed their advanced level courses to those looking to progress in their career. As a student on one of our courses you will benefit from a wide range of services and facilities at both Bury College University Centre and those at the university affiliated with your course. This is dependent on the programme of study and the awarding body/higher education institution agreement.

University of Cumbria

The University of Cumbria is rooted in and serves its communities — with people, place and partnerships at its heart — with a vision to transform lives and livelihoods through its learning, applied research and practice, for now and for future generations.

Inspiring and equipping its graduates with knowledge and skills, enabling communities, economies and environments to thrive, the university enhances and expands its inclusive and accessible learning opportunities by working with employers, place-based and other partners, addressing higher-level sector and regional skills needs.

With a proud history offering programmes across a number of academic areas including arts, business, law, policing, science, conservation, sport, health and social care, and teacher training to people and employers nationwide, University of Cumbria is ranked the number one university in the northwest and is in the Top 10 in the UK for graduates in employment or further study within 15 months after graduation (97.3% of graduates — Graduate Outcomes Survey, HESA 2024).

With amazing study locations to choose from — Lancaster, Carlisle, Ambleside (located in a World UNESCO heritage site), London, and a brand new campus in Barrow from 2025, the University provides a unique student experience in a supportive environment, as well as impressive employer links, degree apprenticeships, continuing professional development (CPD) and foundation courses through further education partners — shaping the future of students and workforces in Cumbria and beyond.

University of Huddersfield

The Education and Training Consortium (ETC) was formally constituted in 2001 as the (then) Consortium for Post-Compulsory Education and Training (CPCET), a pioneering collaborative partnership between FE and the University of Huddersfield focusing on teacher education awards for the ‘Lifelong Learning Sector’. The scale and complexity of the collaboration is unusual. Geographically, ETC members are dispersed across the north of England from Hull to Liverpool, but there are member institutions as far afield as Northumberland, Norfolk and Essex. The Consortium includes large, urban General Colleges of Further Education (GFECs) as well as smaller FE institutions. The open nature of the relationships between partners is a key characteristic. In the field of Lifelong Learning teacher education, the rationale for close partnership underpins curriculum design and development, research and human resource planning. As key sites of practice, the colleges within the Consortium offer a huge store of knowledge and expertise.

As the accrediting institution, The University of Huddersfield retains responsibility for academic standards and quality assurance; however, the Consortium arrangement was designed to maximise partner college involvement in managing the development and delivery of provision. The distribution of new knowledge and innovation in teaching and learning constitutes a considerable challenge within the context of a large and geographically dispersed learning network, but the ETC demonstrates that effective collaboration between HE and FE can be of great benefit financially, strategically, academically and culturally to both parties. The key beneficiaries are the students who, in this case, are both in-service and pre-service trainee teachers and, of course, the FE learners they teach.

University of Salford

The University of Salford is located in the heart of Greater Manchester. We have almost 30,000 students, 2,000 staff and a global community of over
170,000 alumni.

Through our research, we find solutions to the really hard to solve problems facing the world around us. From our unique position at the heart of the community, we empower those around us to transform the everyday lives of people in our city region and beyond. We work with our partners to improve healthcare, help people with their energy bills, make the world sound better, boost the economy and influence policy. We work with industry to co-create the curriculum producing job-ready graduates primarily in health and well-being, engineering, digital and the creative sectors. The University of Salford’s Campus Connectivity Plan (CCP) is the major redevelopment of its research, teaching and public spaces and is the most ambitious development of its estate to date.

The expansion is driven by the University’s goal to unite education, industry and innovation. A technical skills centre and a new health building are now being built, which will tackle workforce shortages in the health and science sectors, and a world-leading acoustics lab is in planning stages.