Dudley College is a college

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

 of further education

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...

 in Dudley

Dudley

Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...

, West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

History

In 1862 the Dudley Public Hall and Mechanics Institute was built. In 1896 this was expanded to become the Dudley Technical School, which became Dudley Technical College in 1926. Dudley College was opened in 1936 as a single-site establishment on The Broadway, located in the shadow of Dudley Castle.

During the 1970s, Dudley College took over the former Coseley UDC offices in Sedgley Road West and converted them into an annexe. This facility closed in July 1993, as Dudley College had taken over the former Mons Hill School on the Priory Estate

Priory Estate

The Priory Estate is a housing estate in Dudley, West Midlands, England, which has largely been developed since 1929.-History:The Priory Estate is so named because it is located near the Priory ruins and Priory Park...

 in September 1990 and had now opened a multi-million pound extension on the site which contained replacement facilities for those at Sedgley Road West.

In September 2002, Dudley College took over the bulk of University of Wolverhampton's

University of Wolverhampton

The University of Wolverhampton is a British university located on four campuses across the West Midlands and Shropshire. The city campus is located in Wolverhampton city centre with a second campus at Compton Park, Wolverhampton; a third in Walsall and a fourth in Telford...

 redundant Castle View Campus in the Eve Hill

Eve Hill

Eve Hill is a residential area of Dudley in the West Midlands of England. It was part of Worcestershire until 1966 and briefly part of Staffordshire until 1974....

 area of Dudley. The newer buildings were retained as part of the college, but the oldest building (dating from 1905) was demolished and is now occupied by a development of private houses and flats.

An expansion to the main campus was completed in 1991 to accommodate increased student numbers that were the result of the establishment of tertiary education in the Dudley area. The extension became known as the Jack Wilson buildings in honour of long-serving local councillor John "Jack" Wilson, who had taken part in the digging of the extension's foundations in August 1990.

This reorganisation saw most of the sixth form facilities at secondary schools closed in a similar move to the one in Halesowen that had taken place in the early 1980s. It was also necessary to free up space in three nearby secondary schools for 11-year-old pupils starting secondary school in September 1990, after 18 years of a system which had seen children transferring to secondary school at the age of 12.

Despite this reorganisation, Dudley College opened a sixth form centre at Dormston School

Dormston School

Dormston School is a secondary school for children located in Sedgley, West Midlands, England. The schools has specialist status as a Mathematics and Computing college....

 in Sedgley

Sedgley

Sedgley is an urban village within the West Midlands county of England. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Sedgley was formerly an ancient manor composed of several smaller villages, including Gornal, Gospel End, Woodsetton, Ettingshall, Coseley and Brierley...

 in September 1996 and six years later opened similar facilities at the nearby High Arcal School

High Arcal School

High Arcal School is a comprehensive secondary school situated in Sedgley, West Midlands, England. It was opened in 1961 as a grammar school and became comprehensive in 1975. The school holds Specialist Science College status...

.

In 2007, plans were unveiled to merge Stourbridge College

Stourbridge College

Stourbridge College is a further education college situated in Stourbridge, West Midlands, England.The main campus, built during the 1970s, is situated south of the town centre on Hagley Road...

 into Dudley College. If the merger did go ahead, the current buildings of Dudley and Stourbridge Colleges would have been retained, and an extra campus would have been opened in Brierley Hill

Brierley Hill

Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined...

.

In 2009, plans were unveiled for another campus of Dudley College to be built on a car park in Priory Road which was once the site of Dudley Girls High School

Dudley Girls High School

Dudley Girls' High School was a selective higher education school which provided education for girls aged 11 to 18 years.-History:It was located in Dudley, England, and opened on 8 December 1910 near the town centre in Priory Road, 12 years after Dudley Grammar School moved to neighbouring premises...

 (later part of The Dudley School and later Castle High School

Castle High School (Dudley)

For schools of the same name, see Castle High School.Castle High School is a secondary school located in Dudley, West Midlands, England. It caters for pupils aged from 11 to 16 years. It is also a specialist Arts College.-The school:...

).