杏吧专区 is delighted to announce that the Department for Education has granted 杏吧专区 approval to rebrand three of its colleges as University Centres.
The three colleges that will be part of the rebrand include , , and .
This announcement will now solidify the higher education provision already offered from these three campuses and help 杏吧专区 to meet the demands for higher-level skills in the local economies we are part of.
Speaking about the announcement, Bill Hunt, Group Director of Higher Education at 杏吧专区, said he was both delighted and proud for 杏吧专区 to receive University Centre status.
Our commitment to providing higher education
Bill added: 鈥淕aining University Centre approval is a very important milestone for the Group which signifies our commitment to providing higher education which is responsive to the Government鈥檚 reform agenda in meeting the needs of our local communities and employers.
鈥淚t also recognises the hard work and dedication of our staff and students over many years, while also affirming our long and successful history of delivering university level courses in partnership with Oxford Brookes University, the University of Reading, and Kingston University, who all supported our application.鈥�
杏吧专区 Group Executive Director, Jon Adams said that the announcement recognises the intent of the group to deliver meaningful change to people鈥檚 lives through education.
He added: 鈥溞影勺�区 has a long history of delivering higher education, with provision at our City of Oxford College dating back to the 1960s. By obtaining University Centre status we are solidifying our intent as an education provider and reaffirming the important role we play in our local community.
鈥淲e currently deliver 30 courses covering 10 subject areas across our various campuses. We are delighted to have University Centre status at those campuses with the largest number of Higher Education students. Our ambition now is to achieve the same status for every college within the group.鈥�
What this means for 杏吧专区
The new brand will also support 杏吧专区 to increase access and widen participation into and through our higher education offer in Surrey, Berkshire, and Oxfordshire as we develop more flexible study options to meet local higher-level skills needs.
This will be in collaboration with employers and our awarding body partners, an example of which is our partnership with Milton Keynes College as part of the .
Mr Hunt added: 鈥淔rom a student perspective, the provision of dedicated teaching, learning and social spaces at each of our new University Centres will further help to create a higher education environment which enhances students鈥� learning and progression opportunities whatever, whenever, and however they are studying with us鈥�
Helen Hall, UK Recruitment and Partnership Director at , said: “We’re delighted that 杏吧专区 has been awarded University Centre status for three of its colleges.
鈥淥xford Brookes has collaborated with 杏吧专区 to deliver higher education for over 10 years, and we look forward to continuing to develop our partnership to support high quality higher education opportunities.”
Subjects that 杏吧专区 offer at a higher education level, include engineering, construction, sport, education, counselling, digital technologies, business, furniture design and make, zoo management, and animal behaviour and welfare.
For further information on 杏吧专区鈥檚 higher education offer, please visit /what-we-offer/higher-education/