Two Bradford learning centres have boosted the success of a recession-busting help scheme that exceeded its target by 20 per cent.

Bradford University and Bradford College were among institutions involved in a project to help people hit by the downturn through training and qualification opportunities and management packages.

The scheme was set up by the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network which secured £1 million from the Economic Challenge Investment Fund, launched by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

WYLLN bid for £1 million from the £25 million fund – the maximum available for a single project – and a £1 million was matched by partners including Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency.

The target for the £2 million fund was to help 1,000 people but the project helped 1,251 people.

Joanne Beaumont, WYLLN assistant director, said: “By working closely with The University of Bradford, Bradford College and other partner universities and colleges, the money was successfully used to provide additional support to that offered by Job Centre Plus and Nextstep, including career management packages and learning, training and qualification opportunities.”

Janet Midgley, Bradford University’s business development officer, cited the case of Amy Hillas and Catherine Bowers who wanted to move into engineering after being made redundant but did not have qualifications to meet the entry requirements.

The university provided advice and support and devised a pathway that enabled them to join the engineering foundation with a year’s fees paid by ECIF. Both have had great academic success and are now well placed to pursue the next stage of their engineering ambitions,” said Janet Midgley.

The institutions were the universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, plus Bradford College, Calderdale College, Joseph Priestley College, Leeds City College, Leeds College of Building, Leeds Trinity University College and Wakefield College.