Colleges merger is now official
NORTH Warwickshire and Hinckley College and its education partner South Leicestershire College have officially merged.
The two institutions became a single legal entity on August 1. While the new organisation will have a different name the two colleges will retain their current branding.
Endorsed by the Government, the plans received the blessing of Nick Boles, Minister of State for Schools, earlier this year. At the same time he brought to an end the former Further Education Commissioner intervention process - which had called on North Warwickshire and Hinckley College to improve its financial management.
The college, which has two campuses in Hinckley, on Lower Bond Street and the Harrowbrook Industrial Estate, sees the merger as the best way to save costs while maintaining teaching standards amid “unprecedented cuts in funding”.
It has been federated with South Leicestershire since 2013 with a shared senior leadership and curriculum team. Both have been rated as “good” by Ofsted during that time.
Toni Fazaeli, chairman of the merged college corporation, said: “We believe that our merger will help us do more and better, by being sharply focused on excellence and as one college being highly responsive to our local communities and employers across the south and west Leicestershire and north Warwickshire areas.
“By becoming a merged college we will be more cost- efficient and be able to provide a richer offer of further and higher education courses and apprenticeships to our local communities and to our local and regional industries.”
A consultation on a name change means the new institution will be known as North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College.
However, the two existing colleges will continue to operate under their existing names and brands. South Leicestershire College has around 6,000 students. North Warwickshire and Hinckley College has about 12,000 students, with 9,500 full-time and 2,500 part-time.