- MidKent College
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The college's new Medway Campus
MidKent College (formerly Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education) is a further education college in Kent, England. It runs courses from three separate campuses across Maidstone and Medway.
There are approximately 15,000 students aged 16 years and upwards enrolled at the college. Courses offered range from pre-entry level to degree level and cover a wide range of vocational and academic subject areas.[1]
Contents
Campuses
The college has three main campuses: the Medway campus in Gillingham, the Maidstone campus (formerly the Oakwood Park Centre), and the Chatham Maritime Centre. The Chatham Maritime Centre is located at the Universities at Medway site - which unites the University of Kent with the University of Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church University.[2]
In September 2009 all courses at the old sites of the Horsted Centre in Chatham and the City Way Centre in Rochester were moved to a new combined campus on Prince Arthur Road in Gillingham, Kent. The new campus, which received more than £40 million of Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding, cost a total of £86million. It offers training facilities in a range of subject areas including construction, performing arts, music and catering.[3]
The Medway campus was officially opened by The Princess Royal on Thursday 25th March 2010.[4]
History
The Duke of Edinburgh visits the college's electronics department as he opens the Horsted site
Students take part in the college Rag Day, 1951The college has been delivering vocational education in Medway and Maidstone for nearly 100 years. Its roots lie in the technical institutes established within the Medway towns in the 1890s and Maidstone around 1918.[5]
The college first began delivering courses from the Horsted Centre in Chatham in 1954.[6] The site was opened as Medway College of Technology by the Duke of Edinburgh on 5 April the following year.[7]
Medway College of Technology and Maidstone Technical College amalgamated in 1966 to become Medway and Maidstone College of Technology. [8] The purpose-built City Way site in Rochester was subsequently opened as an additional college site in 1968. [9]
The college changed its name to Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education in 1978 [10], before dropping the hyphen and space and the latter part of its title to become MidKent College in October 2008.
Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, the college's students were famed for their Rag Day parade. This saw them conducting a carnival procession through the Medway Towns. The parade started at Gillingham train station and ended at the esplanade in Rochester. Each year the students elected their own "Rag Day Queen" to head the procession.
Principal and Chief Executive
The current principal and chief executive is Stephen Grix. He first joined the College in 1971, when, at age 15, he enrolled as a day-release bricklaying student at the Horsted site in Chatham. He had left school with no qualifications.
He went on to complete a range of part-time courses at MidKent College and Bexley (then Erith) College before becoming a foreman. By the age of 21 he was lecturing in the brickwork department of Bexley College.
He eventually went on to become principal of Sir George Monoux College in Walthamstow, head of Ofsted’s post-compulsory education division, and director of education at Tower Hamlets, before returning to MidKent College as principal and chief executive in March 2005. [11]
Media
The college has several magazines for its staff and students. These include the Medway Mag, the magazine for students at the Medway campus; the Maidstone Mag, the magazine for students at the Maidstone campus; and Insight, the staff newsletter. Apart from the latter, the magazines are produced by student editors and contributors and are released termly. Insight is produced by the marketing department weekly. The Medway Mag also has its own blog website for students to contribute further material between issues. [12]
Affiliations
MidKent College became an associate college of the University of Kent in 2001. The University of Kent validates the college’s higher education programmes.[13]
Notable alumni
- Caroline Feraday, television and radio broadcaster
- Mo Abudu, African businesswoman and television personality
- Andy Walker, radio broadcaster
References
- ^ The Association of South East Colleges website
- ^ MidKent College Ofsted report, March 2009
- ^ Medway Messenger News website
- ^ [1]
- ^ MidKent College website
- ^ Chatham Observer, 12 March 1954
- ^ Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham News, 8 April 1955
- ^ Kent Messenger newspaper 29 April 1966
- ^ Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham News 2 February 1968
- ^ Kent Messenger newspaper 4 August 1978
- ^ The Guardian website
- ^ MidKent College Magazines
- ^ The University of Kent website
External links
Categories:- Further education colleges in Kent
- Rochester, Kent
- Education in Medway
- Maidstone (borough)
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