A BARROW college's new principal and chief executive hopes to grow the institution and make it even more successful.

Andrew Wren is the new leader of Furness College.

The former vice principal of East Riding College has strong Cumbria links having been brought up in Brampton and having family around the county. 

Mr Wren said it has always been his intention to return to Cumbria, a place that feels like home to him. 

He said: "From the minute I came to Barrow and to the college I felt very comfortable here. The college is such a welcoming environment with a very positive culture."

The principal wants the college to continue to be at the heart of supporting and serving its community. He will focus on 

local priorities for the area, its learners and employers. 

Mr Wren said: "I want to continue to grow the college, in this climate that's not an easy thing to say due to funding cuts when many colleges are shrinking. To do that we have to focus on the priorities of the area, where are the current and future employment opportunities in the area we serve? It's making sure we train young people and adults to take advantage of those opportunities as they arise, and work alongside employers making sure we are helping them to recruit their future workforce, hence the college is very heavily involved in engineering with a very large engineering provision to match and reflect the demographic it serves."

The principal wants to further improve the good quality of outcomes for learners and good standards of teaching and learning.

Mr Wren said: "It's not just about students achieving their qualification at the end of the course, do they also progress onto employment or further and higher education?  

Mr Wren said he is not coming in to make any wholesale changes unnecessarily. He said the 

college team are very receptive and very self aware. 

He said: "They recognise the strengths and they are passionate about the college, while at the same time they recognise there are some areas where there can be improvements and they are open to that discussion." 

Mr Wren joined the FE sector in 2002 as a retail lecturer from a background in hotel and hospitality management and retail management. He is passionate about the vocational route having also worked with colleges as an employer.  

He said it is a "really exciting time" to be in South Cumbria with the huge industrial developments.

Mr Wren said: "That is the beauty of this area. You get the best of both worlds, you have archetypal Cumbria, the rural aspect and that industry, at the same time in places like Barrow you have excellent and groundbreaking industry. As a college this is incredibly exciting because it's the variety of what we can do as a college to support employers."