One of the advantages of a Leeds location is the availability of a large workforce with the skills to meet the needs of a diverse and growing economy.

 

Leeds City Council, its partners, and a wide range of training organisations work closely with companies to ensure that the skills of the workforce continue to match the city’s increasing demands.

 

Leeds Skills Board has been established to encourage more targeted investment in workforce skills and promote better alignment between the requirements of employers and suppliers of training and education.

 

There are over 72,000 degree students at Leeds’ two internationally acclaimed universities.

 

Leeds Metropolitan University enjoys one of the highest employment rates for its graduates. In 2006, 93.1% of all first degree students found work or further study within six months of graduating. Visit: www.leedsmet.ac.uk

 

The University of Leeds is one of the UK’s largest universities with 33,315 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 130 countries around the world. 

 

Ranked 80th in the THES-QS world university rankings in November 2007, the university is also amongst the top ten universities in the UK for research.

 

Both universities have internationally recognised Business Schools.

 

The White Rose University Consortium is a strategic partnership between the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. The combined research power of the three institutions ranks alongside the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and accounts for 86% of the region’s research spend. Visit: www.whiterose.ac.uk

 

Leeds is the second largest provider of further education for young people in England. There are seven colleges of further education and two higher education colleges with a total of over 81,000 students. In addition, 36 secondary schools in Leeds have some sixth form provision.

 

In addition to further and higher education institutions, there are 34 training providers in Leeds delivering a range of programmes from NVQ 1 to Advanced Modern Apprenticeships.

 

Leeds provides specialist training in many areas including leading edge healthcare training at the city’s two major teaching hospitals and the most up to date printing and publishing techniques at Leeds College of Technology.

 

Leeds is also home to Electronics Yorkshire, which provides bespoke training for electronics companies and those working in the industry. 

 

West Yorkshire New Technology Institute, which provides businesses and individuals with access to bespoke training courses focusing on systems management, programming and software applications, is based in Leeds.