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Plans for 'supercollege' in Salford

Yakub Qureshi
24/ 1/2008

EDUCATION chiefs are calling for the creation of a Salford `supercollege'.

Plans to merge the city's Salford, Eccles, and Pendleton colleges into a single entity will be rejected or backed at a crunch meeting next month.

The 25,000-student college, which would be known as Salford City College, is being proposed because of concerns that students face too much confusion about where to study.

Salford College currently has 8,500 full and part-time students, 320 staff, and four sites. Pendleton College, which has recently moved into a new £10m site, has 12,000 students and Eccles College has three sites and 5,000 students.

The new £35m college would offer A-levels and other qualifications, work-related training, and courses to get adults back into education.

College bosses want the move because they say it will make it easier for school leavers and other learners to get information and would boost co-ordination between the institutions.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which funds colleges in England, is to meet in the next two weeks to make a decision on whether to back the plans.

Students, parents and tutors will then be consulted on the move, which is being backed by Salford City Council. If backed by all parties, the merger could take place as early as August this year.

Jane Bracewell, director of the LSC in Greater Manchester South, who is managing the discussions, said learners would benefit from a single unified college.

Independent review

She said: "We commissioned an independent review of the curriculum in Salford last year which suggested that a single college could lead to improvements.

"The advantage is that it will draw on the strength of all three colleges. We are making what they offer more coherent so that school leavers know what's on offer and employers like Mediacity will find it easier to get information on training."

There were no plans for any job losses at any of the sites, she said.

Under the plans, the campuses would specialise in different areas, with Salford College's Worsley campus focusing on science and maths, the Eccles College site on sport and tourism and the Pendleton College site teaching creative arts.

The proposal comes after government ministers gave permission for an 80,000-student `supercollege' in Manchester - by approving the merger of Mancat and City College into a new body which will be known as Manchester College.

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