What is a Further Education college?

Further Education colleges

There are 100s of Further Education Colleges each providing courses in a local area that link to the jobs that will be growing in the future. They offer a range of academic, vocational, technical and professional courses.

FE colleges use Labour Market Information and relationships with local and regional employers, to ensure they offer qualifications reflective of the job market. Further Education Colleges are attended by people of all ages, from 16 to 90+ although most students are between 16 and 18 years old.

Some colleges are very large, with several sites or campuses and some are specialist, such as those offering agricultural or marine courses.

What courses do they offer?

Further Education Colleges offer courses at every level from entry level courses that do not require GCSE grades at entry, through to higher level qualifications such as HNC/HND and degree courses.

The main difference from school is that an FE college is a much more adult environment and students will typically call teachers by their first name and be expected to be independent. That said, they are still supportive environments and it is not uncommon for parents to be invited in to meet tutors at parents’ evenings or to receive attendance reports.

A full-time course at college is 16 hours, which can mean a student can have a part-time job at the same time (but they will be expected to complete course work and projects too!). Students required to re-sit or take English and maths as part of their study programme may be in college for more hours each week.

There are three FE colleges in Worcestershire

• Heart of Worcestershire College with campuses in Malvern, Worcester, Bromsgrove and Redditch
• Kidderminster College
• Warwickshire College Group with campuses in Evesham, Malvern and Pershore

What's next?

What can you do after going to an FE college:

• you might decide to stay on in college to further your qualifications on a full-time or part-time basis
• if you have studied for a level 3 qualification you can apply to University through UCAS and study for a degree of your choice
• apply for an apprenticeship in a vocational area that you would like to work in
• you can take a gap year and find a job or do some travelling or a mixture of both
• after 18 you can find a job without training. However, learning is for life so try and find a job with training

Documents to download

• What is a Further Education College? (PDF)
• What is a Further Education College? (SEND) (PDF)
• What is a Further Education College? (In Print) (PDF)