Reading College is a further education college based in

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, Berkshire,

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 has over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses. The Kings Road site that is the principal location of Reading College has been used for further education since 1955, when the Reading Technical College was opened. This was renamed the Reading College of Technology in 1967 and the Reading College of Arts and Technology during the 1970s. Thanks to a merger with the Berkshire College of Art and Design (in Maidenhead), it became the Reading College and School of Arts and Design in 1997. It was taken over and became part of

Thames Valley University The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing C ...

in 2004. Thames Valley University continued to offer further education courses at the site, whilst also offering

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 more in keeping with its status as a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. In 2009, the Thames Valley University decided to concentrate on higher education. In 2010 the responsibility for further education, along with the Kings Road site, were transferred to a relaunched Reading College. The college is a partnership between Activate Learning, (an educational group working alongside City of Oxford College and Banbury and Bicester College) and the Learning and Skills Network (LSN), a not-for-profit organisation active in education and training. Reading College and Activate Learning are lead sponsors of UTC Reading, a

university technical college A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

which opened in September 2013.

Notable alumni

* Derek Brockway - BBC Wales meteorologist and TV presenter

References

External links

*
Official website
Education in Reading, Berkshire Educational institutions established in 2010 2010 establishments in England {{UK-university-stub