![Wilberforce's Statue and Hull Technology College - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Wilberforce%27s_Statue_and_Hull_Technology_College_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1136373.jpg)
Hull College is a Further Education and Higher Education establishment based in
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-ea ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
It provides vocational courses, apprenticeships, Higher Education and adult learning courses, with a focus on equipping young people and adults with the skills needed for long-term career success. The college has approximately 2,100 adult learners, 1,600 learners aged 16 to 18, 1,000 apprentices, 167 learners aged 14 to 16, and 109 learners with high needs.
As of October 2022, the college operates from three sites. Its main campus is located at Queen’s Gardens, with satellite sites at Cannon Street and the Steve Prescott Centre.
History
Hull College is operated by Hull College Group, which operates three centres in the city located in
Queen's Gardens, Cannon Street, and the Steve Prescott Centre.
The main bulk of courses in Hull are run in an eight-storey tower block overlooking Queen's Gardens. Built in the 1950s, the block is an example of
brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...
. An £11 million extension housing a
learning resource centre was opened in 2004 and financed jointly by
Yorkshire Forward
Yorkshire Forward was the regional development agency (RDA) for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom. It supported the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, ...
and the
Learning and Skills Council
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was a non-departmental public body jointly sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in England. It closed on 31 Marc ...
. During the construction of this in 2003, a
time capsule
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...
was buried within its foundations. There is also a smaller building situated next to the tower block, known as the Wilberforce. In 2012, this was converted into the ''Hull Studio School''. Following the school's closure in 2014, the building was reverted into classrooms for further education courses. The site is also home to the
Hull School of Art and Design
The Hull School of Art and Design (previously the Hull School of Art) is an art school in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
History
Founded in 1861, classes were originally given in a suite of upstairs chambers at ...
, which was founded in 1861 and currently offers
higher education
Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after comple ...
courses. The school is housed in 1970s buildings, adjacent to the tower block. Further education courses in Art and Design were previously offered at the college's former Park Street site until June 2016, when the building was sold off.
There is a monument dedicated to politician
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
, a Greek Doric column topped by a statue of Wilberforce stands in the Queen's Gardens grounds. In 1967, the college took over the former Carthusian monastery known as the
Charterhouse
Charterhouse may refer to:
* Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order
Charterhouse may also refer to:
Places
* The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery
* Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey
Londo ...
, converting part of the building into an annex of the college. By 2015, the site had been relinquished.
In 2003, the college unveiled a building known as the Horncastle as part of the Queen's Gardens site. Housing drama, media and musical courses, it has a 200-seat theatre allowing performing arts students to put on shows for the general public. Students also have access to drama studios, a radio suite and an operational television studio. Architects ''DLA Interiors'' were responsible for the design of all public areas, including the refectory and classrooms.
In June 2009, plans for an expansive £80 million rebuild of the college buildings were halted by the
British Government. The Queen's Gardens site was one of a number of colleges expected to be given the go-ahead for building projects under the ''
Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...
'' programme. Plans included the demolition of the main tower block and the provision of modern facilities that would house workshops, laboratories, kitchens, salons and a sports centre. The whole programme would eventually be terminated in July 2010.
In November 2014, the Hull College Group announced that they would be taking over the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
Scarborough campus. The University of Hull had since 2000 offered higher education on its satellite campus in Scarborough. In January 2016, it was revealed that the college had 'pulled out' of buying the campus for unknown reasons, although it is suggested that very poor student recruitment was a factor.
A November 2015
Ofsted report rated Hull College as 'good' in terms of its overall effectiveness. The college is a member of the
Collab Group
Collab Group is a membership organisation representing a network of 29 colleges and college groups of further education in the United Kingdom.
Collab Group offers services to both public and private sector clients. They work with their members to ...
of high-performing further-education institutions. In June 2017, the college was awarded a bronze rating by the
Teaching Excellence Framework
The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a controversial government assessment of the quality of undergraduate teaching in universities and other higher education providers in England, which may be used from 2020 to determine ...
(TEF) according to their standard of undergraduate teaching.
![The Horncastle Building, Hull College - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/The_Horncastle_Building%2C_Hull_College_-_geograph.org.uk_-_662799.jpg)
In August 2019
Harrogate College transferred to
Luminate Education Group (formerly Leeds City College Group)
The College is currently under investigation for allegations of financial mismanagement and nepotism.
Management
The
chief executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Hull College Group was Michelle Swithenbank. She was made the chief executive on a permanent basis in June 2017, having served the role temporarily from March 2017. She took a leave of absence from the College to allow investigations into allegations of financial mismanagement and nepotism but later resigned in December 2019 following these investigations.
Before February 2017, the
principal of Hull College was Graham Towse. Towse had joined the college in 1996 and took up the post as principal in April 2013, after an interim period as deputy principal at nearby Grimsby Institute. On 10 October 2016, it was announced that Towse would be leaving the college in February 2017 due to 'personal reasons'. Leaving alongside him would be Antony Sutton,
chief operating officer
A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...
and former chief executive of
Hull FC
Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...
.
In August 2021, Chris Malish, who was appointed principal in April 2021, resigned for personal reasons.
In December 2021, Debra Gray MBE was announced as the new principal to take up the position on 4 April 2022.
Courses
The college offers courses in the following subjects: Art and Design, Business, Catering and Hospitality, Construction, Criminology, Digital Technology and IT, ESOL, Early Years, Electrical, Engineering, English and maths, Foundation and SEND, Hair and Beauty, Health and Social Care, Motor Vehicle, Music and Performing Arts, Science, Sport and Uniformed Protective Services, Travel and Tourism and Welding and Fabrication.
References
External links
College Homepage
{{Authority control
Education in Kingston upon Hull
Further education colleges in the East Riding of Yorkshire
Further education colleges in the Collab Group