It’s time to shine at City Campus
Sunderland College is now proudly greeting hundreds of thousands of people who arrive into the city’s bustling Park Lane, with its stunning £30million city campus, which opened in Autumn 2016.
The Sunderland Echo finds out how this futuristic facility will transform the city and region’s skills for generations to come.
Classrooms. That’s how many of us will remember our experience of being in education.
That’s a world away from the new state-ofthe-art spaces that fill Sunderland College’s multi-million-pound city-centre campus.
Gone are the desks, and in their place stand catering cookers, hot-tubs, lathes, welding benches and an aeroplane fuselage.
Built to accommodate vocational students, who learn with their hands as well as their heads, Sunderland College’s City Campus.
“It’s not like any other learning environment I have been in,” says Ellen Thinnesen, principal and chief executive at Sunderland College.
“Wesawonpaperwhat it would look like, but it just doesn’t prepare you for the reality.
“Opening the doors to City Campus was a proud, proud day.
“It is among the most impressive college buildings I have set foot in during my career in education – and I have been to a lot of colleges.”
While the wow-factor of City Campus is something that Ellen is proud of, her delight with the building is based much more on the practical benefits it will bring.
From brand-new electrical and mechanical engineering spaces, to a stunning 80-seater restaurant that is staffed by students learning the art of catering and hospitality, the campus is changing the way young people learn.
“Our courses are strongly focused on the development of professional and technical skills, so City Campus absolutely has to feel like a real working environment where our young people can get the experience they will need to succeed into their future.
“As well as the internal assets, the college is welllocated in Sunderland.
“At the heart of Sunderland city centre, the college is easily accessible by bus – ideal for the 2,000 students who are based there.
“Rail links though are what make this venture most exciting.
“City Campus is literally seconds away from a Metro station, and it is this connectivity that has opened Sunderland College’s door to students who might otherwise have found travel to our campuses prohibitive.
“This new space is special. Our team is special.
“And this combination is something that will elevate us and help put not only the college, but the whole city on the radar of generations of young people looking to get on a pathway to success.”
To find out more about City Campus and Sunderland College, visit www. sunderlandcollege.ac.uk.