Blackburn College is a further

Further education

Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...

 and higher education

Higher education

Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...

 college in Blackburn, in the unitary authority

Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...

 of Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn with Darwen

Blackburn with Darwen is a unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of Blackburn, the small town of Darwen to the south of it, and the surrounding countryside.-Formation:...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England.

It is a large college, with over 15,000 students, around 6,000 of whom are aged 16–19. Courses provided by the college include A-levels, NVQs and BTEC National Diplomas, and in conjunction with University Centre at Blackburn College

University Centre at Blackburn College

University Centre at Blackburn College is a higher education institute based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England as part of Blackburn College....

, provides HND

Higher National Diploma

A Higher National Diploma is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. This qualification can be used to gain entry into universities, and is considered equivalent to the first or second year of a university degree course....

s and degree

Academic degree

An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...

s. The East Lancashire Institute of Higher Education is an associate college of the University of Lancaster, which validates most of its degrees.

History

Blackburn College started as Blackburn Technical College, which was established in 1888 by public subscription. It originally specialised in engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

 and textiles, introducing tertiary courses such as A-levels in 1984.

Locations

The main campus is in Blackburn town centre and consists of several buildings. The oldest is the Grade II listed Blackburn Technical School, built between 1888–1894; the building, situated at the centre of the campus, is now called the Victoria Building. Other buildings on the campus were built between the 1960s and 1980s. The increase in higher education, in conjunction with the East Lancashire Institute of Higher Education, resulted in an expansion of the college into a former British Telecom office building in the 1990s.

In addition to the main campus, the college has two smaller sites, The Saturn Centre in the Greenbank area and Darwen Access Point in Darwen

Darwen

Darwen is a market town and civil parish located within Lancashire, England. Along with its northerly neighbour, Blackburn, it forms the Borough of Blackburn with Darwen — a unitary authority area...

.

Development

In the 2000s, four phases of construction were announced, as the college aims to modernise its campus and increase the range of degrees offered. The first was St Paul's Centre, with IT and sixth form facilities, which was completed in 2007 at a cost of £8.8million. The second, a new higher education building, was completed during the summer of 2009, and the completion of the third site (a mechanics workshop) is scheduled for 2009. The final phase will be a new main college building.

Reports

In 2008 the college was rated as outstanding in an Ofsted

Ofsted

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 report, and was one of five colleges in the North West

North West England

North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...

 to be awarded Beacon status by the Quality Improvement Agency

Quality Improvement Agency

The Quality Improvement Agency was a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government whose remit was to support those institutions that provide education, but which are not schools or universities...

.