About us

 

 

About Us

West Suffolk College is a rural further education college with its main campus located in Out Risbygate and Construction and Building Services at Anglian Lane, both within Bury St Edmunds.  In addition, we serve our rural community through Local Learning Centres in Stowmarket, Thurston, Haverhill, Newmarket, Sudbury and Mildenhall.  The Stowmarket and Mildenhall centres are also designated LEAP centres (Learning and Enterprise Action Points).  We use over a hundred different venues around the county to deliver our programmes and in January 2008 we opened a new centre in IP-City in Ipswich.

In 2006/07 our student enrolment was 18,200, of which 64% were over 25 years old, 11% were aged 19-24 and 25% were 14-18 years old.  We work with all of our local upper schools and have 700 school link students who come to the College on one or two days a week.

In addition to full-time, part-time and Adult Education, we have a large contract for Apprenticeships and Train to Gain provision.  In support of these programmes we work with over a thousand employers and in 2006/07 delivered a substantial volume of full cost courses to employers.  We are a member of University Campus Suffolk and provide full and part-time degree courses for about 600 students.  Our annual graduation is held in the Cathedral, and is a very important day for our students and the town alike.

A recent investigation into the socioeconomic impact of the College has identified £193.2 million benefit to the region. For more information, click here for the PowerPoint file.

 

 

 

We are a large local employer with 1,050 staff and a turnover of £23 million.

We are very proud of the quality of provision that we are able to offer, both in terms of learning/training and individual support.  Student success rates are very high, and we are placed within the top 5% of colleges in the country.  In 2006 we were awarded ‘Outstanding’ in each of the five Ofsted categories and this resulted in the College being awarded Beacon Status, which is a public recognition of excellence and innovation.  Along with a number of other awards, we are particularly proud to have become a Sunday Times Best Company to Work For (2007), and Investor in People and Leadership and Management, and to be one of only two colleges nationally to be awarded the new Employer Standard in two areas, Construction and Engineering.

College Vision

To be recognised locally and nationally as an outstanding College.

Mission

The primary purpose of West Suffolk College is to provide excellent education and training which develops skills that contribute to the success of the individual and the economy.

College Values Statement – RSVP & P

We, the College community, endeavour to

Respect	each individual at the College
Support	every student and every member of staff
Value	the contribution made by everyone to the life of the College
Praise	the work and achievement of each student and each member of staff, and
Pride	take pride in every aspect of our College

 

West Suffolk College is a member of the West Suffolk Local Strategic Partnership (WSLP) which is committed to making life better for people in West Suffolk. To find out how we are helping, please view the website at www.onesuffolk.co.uk/wslsp.