The £10 million college, which will specialise in teaching biomedical and environmental science and technology, opens in September this year, sponsored by Cambridge University Health Partners and Cambridge Regional College and supported by world-leading businesses.
Lord Baker, the pioneer behind UTCs and chairman of the Baker-Dearing Educational Trust, praised the specialist science college for 14 to 19 year-olds and said it would be “a great success”.
Formally topping out the building, he said he was very impressed by the work that had gone into developing the college and its position at the heart of Cambridge’s acclaimed biomedical campus.
“This whole concept of UTC Cambridge was only a dream in 2012 and it is quite remarkable that we have the framework of the building up and that students will be here in September,” he said.
“I am very excited about this UTC and I am delighted to be here – it is going to be a great success. The youngsters in this college will not need to join the ranks of the unemployed.”
Professor Patrick Maxwell, director of Cambridge University Health Partners, said specialist training for young people was vital.
“The speed at which medical science and technology is moving in Cambridge is extraordinary. We have this fantastic campus, which we think is the largest concentration of biomedical organisations in Europe, and adding technical training for young people is hugely important,” he said.
The state-funded UTC will take students from a 25-mile radius of Cambridge, offering GCSEs, A levels and practical qualifications alongside special industry-led Challenge Projects.
UTC Cambridge principal Melanie Radford, said the visionary college was part of an innovative development in education.
“UTCs are the most exciting educational venture in the world at the moment. With the help of the employer partners and governors this is going to be a spectacular success,” she said.
The new college is being built by BAM Construction, builders of the £175m MRC’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology next door to the Robinson Way site.
For more information about the UTC, see www.utccambridge.co.uk.
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