Established 1 April 2009 (merged) DfE URN 135771 Tables Phone +44 113 386 1996 | Principal & CEO Colin Booth Ofsted Reports Founded 1 April 2009 | |
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Location Cookridge StreetLeedsWest YorkshireLS2 8BLEngland Address Park Lane Campus, Park Ln, Leeds LS3 1AA, UK Notable alumni Nicola Adams, John Newman, Rusko, Alan Barnes, Snake Davis Similar Joseph Priestley College, Park Lane College Leeds, Leeds College of Building, Leeds College of Art, Leeds Beckett University Profiles | ||
Leeds city college student life
Leeds City College is the largest Further education establishment in the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with around 26,000 students, 2,300 staff and an annual turnover of £78 million. It officially opened on 1 April 2009. The College was granted official status in January 2009 and was formed from three large colleges, Park Lane College, Leeds Thomas Danby College and Leeds College of Technology. The college is a member of the Collab Group (formerly the 157 Group) of 35 high performing state sixth form colleges and colleges of further education.
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On 1 August 2011 the college expanded further with the merger of the three sites of Joseph Priestley College in Rothwell, Beeston and Morley. On the same day it also became the owner of a newly re-constituted Leeds College of Music which will maintain a level of independence as a wholly owned company of the City College.
Sites
The existing five sites of the three forming colleges continued in use, and were named as follows:
In September 2011 a new site was opened after a college merger:
In September 2013 a new site was opened:
The college also operates from 12 other centres in Leeds.
Reasons for merger
The decision to merge the three colleges was agreed by the three institutions involved with the joint aim being:
"...to raise achievement levels in Leeds and Keighley, offer more courses to suit the needs of everyone from school leavers to employers, and enhance our facilities to be amongst the best in the country".
With the three colleges offering many similar courses, one of the major advantages of having a unified education institution in the city is that duplication of courses is eliminated and the provision of centralised services to learners.
Timeline
According to the Leeds College Merger website, the Secretary of State gave official approval of the merger in January 2009 with the three colleges being dissolved on 31 March 2009. From 1 April 2009, Leeds City College would come into force with a new identity and from then on, publicity campaigns would run to extend the awareness of the new college. New students will be enrolled to the new Leeds City College from September 2009.
Funding for the merger
It was assumed that the primary funding body for Further Education in England, The Learning and Skills Council, had ring-fenced a capital grant to help fund the merger. Although no actual figure was published, an article that appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post in December 2006 spoke of up to £200 million being made available.
However, news hit the headlines in spring 2009 of a serious and unexpected financial deficit within their national Building Colleges for the Future program, from where the grant would normally have been allocated. This has cast doubts on how just how much money (if any) will be made available for this merger, and when it would be released.