SOUTH Wiltshire University Technical College (UTC) opened its doors to its first cohort of students yesterday (Thursday).

The Wilton Road site has undergone an £8million refurbishment, including installation of £1m of specialist equipment.

The new building has traditional classrooms with interactive television screens, which will link up the students' individual laptop computers, as well as specialist workshops for computer aided design (CAD), 3D printing, electronic and mechanical engineering and science labs, adding to the workplace learning environment.

UTCs are a national initiative and students join at either Year 10, the start of GCSEs, or Year 12, the start of sixth form.