AboutFeedback
Leicester College is one of the largest in the UK with more than 26,900 learners studying with us on a wide range of courses, from many backgrounds and with different ambitions and aspirations.
We are committed to enriching the lives of all members of the community and to creating new opportunities for them. This is reflected in our mission statement: “To deliver a wide range of high quality learning experiences to support the diverse communities we serve and the personal, social and economic development of individuals and enterprises.”
Key facts and figures
- More than 26,900 learners study with us.
- We offer hundreds of courses from entry level to university level.
- We provide training for thousands of local and national companies.
- The College has three state-of-the-art city centre campuses and runs courses in more than 80 community venues.
- In 2011, Ofsted found that the College is outstanding at meeting the needs of learners, employers and the wider community.
- 670 learners are studying university-level courses.
- We have 2,000 Apprentices and Advanced Apprentices.
- 5,900 learners studied Skills for Life courses.
- 805 learners went on to Higher Education after studying at Leicester College.
- We have 1,000 learners aged 14-16 years, and 5,200 learners aged 16-18 years.
- We are proud that our learners reflect the diversity of the local population:
- 3,400 learners have a learning difficulty and/or disability.
- 42% are from black and minority ethnic groups.
- 40% are from areas of disadvantage.
- 3,400 learners are taking ESOL programmes.
- We employ 1,500 people.
- The annual budget is £54 million.
- We are members of five National Skills Academy network in the areas of Food and Drink Manufacturing, Environmental Technologies, Retail and Materials Production and Supply.
- We enjoy Founder College status of the National Skills Academy Creative and Cultural.
- We have also recently been appointed the East Midlands Hub for The Peter Jones Enterprise Academy.
Awards and Standards
We have achieved certification in the Training Quality Standard and hold the Customer Service Excellence Standard for customer excellence. The College also holds the Matrix quality standard for information, advice and guidance services for Employer Engagement, the Investors in People award and the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) Leading the Learner Voice Award for Community and Social Cohesion.
Our efforts to encourage social integration, plus our embedding of Functional Skills of English, maths and ICT in all areas of the curriculum, saw Leicester College win two Association of Colleges Beacon Awards.
In addition, we have won the Churches’ Award for Sustainable College Partnerships that Recognise Diversity and Develop People and Communities for our community cohesion action plan.
Our most recent achievements include being awarded the Artsmark Gold by Arts Council England in recognition of our commitment to, and excellence in, arts education. We have also received the first Habia Skills Academy’s (HSA) Centre of Expertise status for our Foundation Degree in Artistic Make-up and Special Effects.
Additional awards received by the College include:
- Our Continuing Studies department was shortlisted for the TES FE awards for ‘Outstanding Innovation in Teaching, Training or Learning Provision’.
- They were also chosen as a case study for LSIS resource ‘Creative Listening: Hearing the Voices of Learners with PMLD’.
- The College was shortlisted for a CIM Award for our 100 in 100 Campaign.
- We won the Gold Heist Award for the same campaign.
- We were chosen by the NSA for Food Manufacturing to be the Food Manufacturing Champion for Bakery.
- We were awarded a certificate of achievement in recognition for outstanding voluntary and community contribution to the city and county by the Muslim Khatri Association.
- The College was used in the good practice guides ‘Improving access to learning provision in the community and ex offenders’ and ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’.
- Diversity Manager Ruth Pickersgill was Highly Commended in the LSIS Learner Voice Senior Manager of the Year.