Coventry College strikes agreement with Alan Higgs Centre

Leading further education provider, @CoventryCollege, has struck a long-term agreement to move some of its sporting and public services provision to a state-of-the-art centre in the city.

Coventry College has agreed a partnership with leisure operator CV Life for its 230-strong cohort of sports and public services students to access facilities at the Alan Higgs Centre on Allard Way from September 2021 onwards.

It will see students on the College’s various sporting programmes – including rugby, football and those on the College’s Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme – as well as public services students, using the centre’s facilities for practical and theory sessions alongside additional academic study at Coventry College’s city centre campus.

The move is hot on the heels of the Alan Higgs Centre undergoing a major transformation – including the opening of a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool, along with new indoor and outdoor 3G football pitches.

Carol Thomas, Principal and CEO at Coventry College, said:

“This is fantastic news for the College, as the elite facilities at the Alan Higgs Centre are ideally suited to help us nurture the next generation of athletes and sports professionals.

“There has been a strong desire in the College to replicate the elite level of academic teaching that our students receive into the facilities they use too, and while our Henley campus has served our sports department well over the years, the facilities at the Alan Higgs Centre will take the student experience to a new level.

“This move will strengthen our appeal as the go-to destination for the next generation of footballers, rugby players and other sports professionals, and we look forward to working with CV Life on developing our partnership further over the coming years.”

Paul Breed, Chief Executive at CV Life, added:

“Working with Coventry College forms a key part of our overarching aim of ensuring that the wider community is able to benefit from the Alan Higgs Centre’s cutting-edge facilities.

“We’re thrilled that the centre is now going to be able to play its part in helping many young people to realise their career ambitions, on top of the 539,000 visitors that we receive to the centre every year.

“The Alan Higgs Centre is well versed in supporting the next generation of sporting athletes through its work with Coventry City Football Club’s academy, and we look forward to a similarly fruitful partnership with Coventry College.”