Coventry College seeing rising demand in further education

To mark the #LoveOurColleges campaign, which is backed by the Association of Colleges between 14 and 18 October to highlight the work that goes on in colleges – Coventry College CEO Gill Banks revealed the impact that Coventry’s leading further education provider is having across the city, with rising levels of interest in its courses.

Gill Banks, CEO at Coventry College, has revealed that over the past year more than 2000 people have attended at least one of the College’s five Open Days – a significant increase in visitors on the previous year.

The College’s Open Days are for school leavers and adult learners to explore hundreds of courses on offer to the 7,000 students who attend Coventry College, which has campuses on Swanswell Street in the city centre, and on Henley Road in Bell Green.

“Making a difference to people’s lives is the overriding motivation for our staff and we have achieved that in a variety of ways over the past year, as well as laying foundations that will go on to benefit others in the future,” said Gill.

“We saw the college achieve its best ever set of GCSE results in August before we attracted increased levels of enrolment for the year ahead – both of which bode well for the future – but it is stories of our students using their college experiences to go on and make a difference in their communities which really strike a chord of what the college is about.

“One of our former media students Tyler Campbell has gone on to set up his own charity called FRIDAYs to tackle knife crime and get young people off the streets, which is attracting around a hundred young people every month.

“Another of our hairdressing students learned all of the basics while at Coventry College, and now has his own barber shop on Spon Street in the city centre which has really made the cut with the general public.

“One of the College’s rugby players, Jamal Gask-Clarke, has also recently trained with England Rugby’s 7s camp to put the College on the national stage.

“These achievements only scratch the surface of the talent that we have at Coventry College, and campaigns such as Love Our Colleges are important to bring these achievements to the fore to remind people that colleges are a key driving force for good in communities across the country.”

Sue Noyes, Chair of Governors at Coventry College, added:

“The rising levels of interest in the College’s Open Days are testament to the strong reputation we are developing – be it for adults re-taking their GCSEs to go on to higher education or school leavers pursuing a vocational career.

“The merger of City College and Henley College a couple of years ago forged an educational powerhouse in the city that broadened learning opportunities for students, and the College’s achievements over the past year demonstrate that we are beginning to see the positive impacts.”