London: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College

 

London: Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College

Age: 130

History: The college began in 1881 when Hammersmith School of Art was established in Brook Green. In 1975, Hammersmith College of Art and Building, Hammersmith College for Further Education and West London College merged to form Hammersmith and West London College. In January 2002, Hammersmith and West London College merged with Ealing Tertiary College to form Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College.

Address: Four sites: Acton, Ealing, Hammersmith and Southall. Hammersmith is the largest, with more than 10,000 students on this site alone. In September 2003, the college opened its first Sixth Form Centre (as part of Southall & West London College) and has since gone on to open two more in Ealing and Hammersmith.

Ambience: The essential studying-in-the-city experience; big, bustling and urban, with lots of swanky new facilities. Each site is very different and has its own identity, but the college is big enough to provide impressive facilities and a variety of subject areas to suit almost any learner.

Vital statistics: As one of the largest colleges in the UK with four separate sites, it is perhaps unsurprising that every year more than 25,000 students enroll on one of the many courses they offer. There are more than 1,500 teaching and support staff to assist students, in excess of 500 courses to choose from, ranging from basic learning development and pre-vocational qualifications to postgraduate and professional levels.

Added value: A range of HE and professional courses are offered, with smaller class sizes than in a traditional university environment, lower fees and excellent progression routes into employment or further study. The college has its own record label, Grade 9 Records, and its football team is coached and managed by QPR.

Easy to get into? Yes – keen on widening participation.

Glittering alumni: Estelle, Marcus Brigstocke and Terri Walker all went through the performing arts division.

Transport links: All of the sites are based within easy walking distance of underground or mainline stations and main bus routes. The surrounding areas offer a vibrant mix of shops, parks, cafes and bars. The Acton site is a 10-minute walk from Acton Town tube station. Ealing Broadway tube station is 10 minutes away from the Ealing site. Barons Court tube is less than 5 minutes from the Hammersmith site. Southall overground station serves the Southall site.

Who's the boss? Paula Whittle, principal.

Teaching: A 2012 Ofsted report graded the college's overall standard of provision as satisfactory, but outstanding in its safeguarding and provision for learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and

Foundation degrees: Business; hospitality management; computing science; social care; travel and tourism.

Nightlife: All of London just a short hop on the tube away.

Any accommodation: Yes, in various hostels dotted around the west of the city. Double and single dormitory rooms are available, and you can have breakfast and an evening meal provided.

Cheap to live there? Nope. This is London, so expect to pay around £100 per week for a room in a shared flat.

Fees: Fee plans for 2012 are yet to be confirmed, but are likely to fall in line with other London colleges and charge significantly more than the £3,330 fees of 2011.

Bursaries: In 2012, the college will continue to offer six HE bursaries, awarded to full-time HE students based on attendance, progress and a number of other criteria. Each HE bursary is worth £700, with £400 being awarded in year one, and subject to successful completion of their first year of study, a further £300 in year two. In 2012, the college will be participarting in the National Scholarship Programme.

Prospectus: 020 7491 1841; www.wlc.ac.uk

UCAS code: E10

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
       
News in pictures
World news in pictures

Day In a Page

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth

Johnny Marr talks relationships and reunions

He's worked with Modest Mouse, the Pet Shop Boys and Beck, to name a few, and recently released his first solo album. So why, wonders Johnny Marr, do people still hark on about The Smiths?
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub