Havering College of Further and Higher Education

Havering College (Havering College)

History: Over 60 years old, currently working on modernising its facilities.

Address: The college has two local campuses with several satellite sites and outreach centres. The main campus is in Hornchurch in Essex.

Ambience: State-of-the-art facilities with industry standard equipment.

Who's the boss? Maria Thompson is principal and chief executive.

Prospectus: 01708 455 011, order it online here and follow @HaveringCollege

UCAS code: H14

What you need to know

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

Foundation Degrees: Business management; early years, childcare and education; computing and systems development; electrical/ electronic engineering; mechanical engineering; motorsport engineering.

Vital statistics: 10,000 students from the age of 14+ study courses at the college ranging from basic skills to higher education. Over 1,000 HE students. Programmes on offer include 30 honours degrees, foundation degrees and HNC/HNDs. Other provision includes A-levels and vocational courses. The college delivers a wide range of apprenticeships and has strong business and industry links.

Added value: Strong business and industry links. The college has been awarded the Erasmus University Charter which gives its higher education students the opportunity to study or work abroad as part of their degree programme. A £6million centre of creative arts is dedicated to the study of performing arts, graphic design, creative media production, fine art, pottery, fashion, photography and media. Further investment has resulted in a specialist construction centre in Rainham where there is a vision to establish a whole new college campus. Investment has also ensured high quality engineering and IT facilities. Higher education students are benefitting from the addition of a dedicated HE centre at the Ardleigh Green campus. Hair and beauty salons on-site.

Teaching: The HE Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) gave the college its highest level of approval in March 2010. The QAA audit praised the college for the evident commitment of staff, excellent rapport with students, effective support of staff and excellent engagement with employers. Ofsted inspectors graded the college as 'good with outstanding features' in March 2011.

Any accommodation? None provided by the college. International students may benefit from host family accommodation, starting at £95 per week for room only and £125 per week for half board.

Cheap to live there? Certainly by the standards of the south-east - from £65 per week for private rents.

Transport links: Bus journeys from the campus into central Hornchurch take about 10 minutes. The tube into central London takes about 50 minutes, trains about 30 minutes – and for those with cars, the college is not far from the M25, A12and A127.

Fees: £6,000 per year for full-time home and EU higher education students on most courses.

Bursaries: A Social Work bursary is available for full and part-time students, while discretionary Access to Learning funds are also offered to students from households with an income below £21,000.

The fun stuff

Nightlife: Enough clubbing and pubbing opportunities in Romford that the trip into London can be reserved for special nights. The students’ union organises parties and events.

Sporting reputation: Sport doesn't feature here- none of its own facilities.

Glittering alumni: None as yet.