Croydon College

Croydon College is one of London’s larger further education institutions and provides an extensive range of courses to its cohort of over 8,000 students.

Situated in one of Britain’s largest commercial centres, the College plays a central role in the Borough, working closely with the
local authority to meet the skill needs of the local population. This includes the University Centre, Croydon with courses validated by the prestigious University of Sussex.

The student body at Croydon is very diverse. There is a high proportion of learners from ethnic minority backgrounds and a  substantial number have experienced much of their education overseas. Although Croydon is a suburban borough, it contains wards that have high levels of social deprivation. The College also draws many students from neighbouring inner city boroughs. The College is proud of this diversity, which it serves effectively with no equality gaps for any significant group.

The curriculum

The College offers programmes of study in 14 of the 15 subject sector areas. These range in level from pre-entry to postgraduate. Courses are available by full time, part time, day and evening study. There is a substantial and growing work-based provision,
including both apprenticeships and NVQs.

The curriculum offer is updated to meet the needs of individuals and employers. In addition to work-based learning referred to above, there is ‘A’ Level provision, a large suite of BTEC diplomas at three levels, a wide range of NVQs from levels 1 to 4 and a large ESOL programme.

The higher education programmes are in the areas of art and design, business, human resource management, law, education, childhood studies and social work.

The College also has a range of courses for 14-16 year olds.
University Centre, Croydon

Croydon College has been offering Higher Education Programmes since the early 70s and is the largest provider of HE between London and the South coast as well as being amongst the largest HE in FE provision in England.

The offer caters to two distinct markets: firstly, full time students, many of whom are more mature than standard entrants, have non-standard or vocational qualifications, and are often the first in the family to enter HE; and secondly, those already in work looking to update and upgrade their skills and qualifications. There are currently 1200 students studying on higher education programmes at the University Centre and achievement rates are high. HE provision at Croydon last year received
the highest outcome possible in its inspection by the QAA.

Great facilities

The College has two buildings on its Croydon site – Fairfield and Barclay Road. The buildings are ideally situated right in the heart of Croydon and with excellent transport links close by.

The Fairfield building has been the subject of extensive remodelling and refurbishment and the largest element of this work has recently been completed. The Barclay Road building is not appropriate for upgrading and will be disposed of.
The initial investment in the College comprised of a new front entrance with an integrated Course Information Centre and the refurbishment of Hospitality & Catering and Hairdressing & Beauty Therapy areas. This provided the College with industry
standard kitchens and salons for these areas.

Subsequently the work was undertaken to build a new college refectory, refurbish the academic area of Construction & Engineering and undertake vital modernisation.

April 2011 saw the completion of a new rotunda containing a ground floor entrance to the southern elevation, a new Library and Learning Resource Centre and industry standard teaching facilities for performing arts and music technology. This work also included providing an extension to the third floor and the refurbishment of the existing third and fourth floors. In April this year, Boris Johnson opened the new Rotunda at an event supported by local MPs, business leaders and key members of our community.

A final phase of work will see both the current library converted into a bright and contemporary teaching space for Art, Design and
Media and plans to refurbish remaining areas of the College.

For more information about the College see www.croydon.ac.uk