Birmingham Metropolitan College

Birmingham Metropolitan College (Formerly Matthew Boulton College of Further & Higher Education)

Age: 120

History: Named after the great industrialist, Matthew Boulton College started life in 1890 as a Municipal Technical School meeting the growing needs for technical education. Today the college continues to emulate the good work of its namesake, providing education and training to its local community, schools and businesses. In 2009, it merged with Sutton Coldfield College to become Birmingham Metropolitan College.

Address: Central Birmingham. Moved in 2005 to a brand new building near Millennium Point in Eastside, the city's burgeoning learning quarter. Aston University and UCE Birmingham have campuses a stone's throw away. Once the butt of endless jokes, Britain's second city is undergoing something of a cultural renaissance.

Ambience: A thriving urban college still jubilant about its new £40m premises, the biggest FE development the region has seen. It maintains strong links with the community, such as the 4Ws project providing language support and life skills for women in the Highgate area of Birmingham, which has an increasing number of asylum seekers.

Vital statistics: More than 7,000 students beaver away on 500 courses.

Added value: Already a centre of vocational excellence in print media and graphics, business and professional services and vocational medical sciences, the College has its sights set on achieving the same in electronics and technology, performing arts and information technology in the near future. It won the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education in 2002 and has a new state-of-the-art drop-in learning suite in the Central library's Baskeville learning centre.

Easy to get into? Applications are made directly to the college.

Glittering alumni: Former F1 maestro Nigel Mansell.

Transport links: Birmingham is easy to get to, from and around. Matthew Boulton is in the centre, less than ten minutes' walk from New Street station.

Who's the boss? Christine Braddock, Principal and Chief Executive since 1998. She is a council member of the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Teaching: The 2003 Ofsted report rated the teaching as good in science, teacher training, and visual and performing arts and satisfactory in engineering and business.

Foundation Degrees: Business administration, fitness and community health, health and social care, applied computing, law, IT and networking, dental technology, pharmaceutical technology, production management, teaching assistants.

Nightlife: Birmingham has a kicking club scene, a spice rack of curry houses and cultural delights including the Birmingham Rep, Symphony Hall and the NEC.

Any accommodation? None provided by the college, but Birmingham has a wide range of student housing.

Cheap to live there? It can be - some shared student flats went for as little as £40 per week last year.

Prospectus: 0845 155 0101 / www.bmetc.ac.uk

UCAS code: B30