Harlow College

Harlow College is the only Further Education college in the Essex town of Harlow, England. The town was designed in 1947 to house 60,000 people. It now has a population of 80,000 and is continuing to grow.

The college is medium-sized in comparison to other UK Further Education colleges and has three main divisions:
* corporate services
* student-focused provision
* employer-focused provision

The student-focused provision consists of:
* the sixth form centre
* the skills academy
* community and higher education

The college is on a single site off the town's Velizy Avenue. In 2005/06, the college enrolled about 2,070 learners aged 16-18 and about 4,750 adult learners. Both young and adult learners were a mix of full-time and part-time students.

Nearly 90% of all learners at Harlow College are of white ethnic origin. Most learners are from Essex and Hertfordshire. The college offers courses in most sector subject areas over a wide range of levels.

The college’s mission states: “Harlow College (working with its partners) intends to achieve excellence. It intends to achieve excellence not in isolated pockets but across the full range of its work”.

The college’s new teaching and learning strategy is the means by which it aims to achieve this vision. Its core values are:
* meeting the learning and skills needs of the local economy and community
* raising standards
* running efficiently and effectively

Harlow College has been the subject of a lot of controversy within Harlow following the appointment of a new principal. Letters calling for his resignation are printed weekly, one reached the Guardian newspaper and there were articles in the Times Educational Supplement. Concerns about teaching standards and faltering exam results were increased by the spring 2008 AS and A2 results. These concerns were substantiated by the Summer A level results where there was a 2% fall in the overall pass rate (from 96 to 94%) and an 8% fall in those achieving A to C grades (from 60 to 52%). (Harlow Star 21st August)