One of the largest further education colleges in the UK, Leicester College operates across three main campuses in Leicester city centre, plus more than 200 community venues spread throughout the city. With over 26,000 students and around 1,600 staff, it runs on an annual budget of more than £50 million. The three campuses carry the postcodes LE1 3WL (St Margaret’s Campus), LE1 3WA (Abbey Park Campus), and LE2 7LW (Freemen’s Park Campus), with a City Skills Centre building at LE1 1FB also in operation.
History and Leadership
Leicester College came into being on 31 July 1999 through the merger of Charles Keene College and Southfields College. In July 2002, Maggie Galliers was appointed Principal. Her contribution to further education was recognised in June 2009 when she received a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to local and national further education. That same year, Abbey Park Campus was officially opened by the Princess Royal on 12 May 2009, marking the completion of a £48 million accommodation project that also included extensive building works at Freemen’s Park Campus and refurbishment at St Margaret’s Campus.
Campuses and What They Offer
Abbey Park Campus has four floors of teaching facilities, including a 140-seat drama studio, science labs, a dance studio, music studios, a language lab, and dental and childcare training rooms. The college’s Technology and Engineering Centre sits opposite the main campus buildings. Freemen’s Park Campus focuses on vocational training, with a professional hair and beauty salon, working kitchens supplying a bistro and silver service restaurant, and construction workshops covering plumbing, brickwork, woodwork, and painting and decorating. A food manufacturing innovation suite was opened there on 3 November 2009. St Margaret’s Campus houses courses in Art and Design, Fashion and Footwear, Computing, Creative Media, Photography, and Print. Beyond its main sites, the college also runs training across 200 outreach venues, including Upper Brown Street – a live music and performance venue occupying the former Phoenix Arts Centre – and the Retail Skills Centre Leicester, a dedicated retail training facility and founder member of the National Skills Academy for Retail.
Higher Education Links
Leicester College holds Associate College status with De Montfort University and has a formal relationship with the University of Leicester, giving students pathways into higher education from within the college’s own programmes.