Home > News > March 2005 > 25-Mar-2005

Philip Green and Ruth Kelly launch the Fashion Retail Academy

Details of the UK Fashion Retail Academy have been announced by Arcadia’s Philip Green and Secretary of State for Education Ruth Kelly.

Philip Green said "The principal idea and concept for the Fashion Retail Academy is to train and prepare the next generation of young people for the work place by teaching and developing the fundamental skills required in the Retail Industry.

“The ethos and curriculum have been created to encourage entrepreneurial talents through both unique behind the scenes insight and direct contact on a regular basis with CEO's and senior retail executives from many different areas of the Retail Industry".

The Academy will be located in central London on Gresse St, W1 with over 45,000 sq ft of adaptable teaching space over 6 floors. It is anticipated that the Academy will be launched in late autumn 2005.

Approximately 60 students will comprise the initial intake, aged between 16 and 18, with total student populations expected to grow to 350.

The initial funding costs of £20 million to set up the Academy have been provided on a 50/50 basis by Arcadia and the DfES/Learning and Skills Council. On an ongoing basis the Academy will be funded from the Learning and Skills Council budget and support from retailers through donations.

Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Ruth Kelly, said "Arcadia's exciting innovative Skills Academy for Fashion Retail will blaze a trail for our new Skills Academy programme. By supporting this joint venture Philip Green is showing a real commitment to productive partnership in education. The Academy will promote fashion retail as a career, and will deliver a flow of young people to the industry with excellent skills.”

At this week’s launch, it was announced that the Academy will offer two qualifications:

• Year 1 - Certificate of Fashion Retail (equivalent to GCSE)
• Year 2 - Diploma of Fashion Retail (equivalent to A-Level)

Students will receive tuition in many aspects of retail including design, technology, IT, marketing, visual merchandising and buying and will be encouraged and helped to take part-time work within the sector.

There will be a two stage recruitment process, both written and through formal interview. All interested applicants should fill in an on-line application form which goes live on April 1st on the Arcadia website: www.arcadiagroup.co.uk/recruitment

Please note: Training Reference is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.

Training and development books

Discover books on a variety of training and development topics at the Training Reference Bookshop

Source suppliers

Visit the Training Reference Directory to view supplier details for a wide range of courses, products and services.

Sponsored links

Back to top