Spread across three city-centre campuses and more than 200 community venues throughout Leicester, Leicester College is one of the largest further education colleges in the UK. With over 26,000 students, around 1,600 members of staff, and an annual budget exceeding £50 million, it operates at a scale that makes it a significant part of the city’s education and training provision. Its campuses carry the postcodes LE1 3WL (St Margaret’s Campus), LE1 3WA (Abbey Park Campus), and LE2 7LW (Freemen’s Park Campus), along with a City Skills Centre at LE1 1FB.
History and Formation
Leicester College came into existence on 31 July 1999 through the merger of Charles Keene College and Southfields College. Maggie Galliers was appointed Principal in July 2002 and went on to receive a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in June 2009 for her services to local and national further education. The same year, the Princess Royal officially opened the college’s flagship Abbey Park Campus on 12 May 2009, marking the completion of a £48 million building and refurbishment programme that also covered works at Freemen’s Park Campus and upgrades to 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, alongside a separate Technology and Engineering Centre. Freemen’s Park Campus takes a vocational focus, with a professional hair and beauty salon, working kitchens that supply 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 in November 2009. St Margaret’s Campus concentrates on creative subjects, including Art and Design, Fashion and Footwear, Computing, Creative Media, Photography, and Print. Beyond these main sites, the college runs training across 200 outreach venues in Leicester, including Upper Brown Street – a live music and performance venue in the former Phoenix Arts Centre – and the Retail Skills Centre Leicester, a founder member of the government-backed National Skills Academy for Retail. Academically, Leicester College is an Associate College of De Montfort University and part of the University of Leicester‘s network.