College Overview
City of Wolverhampton College is situated in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. The college was formed in September 1999 as a result of a merger between Wulfrun College and Bilston Community College. It was initially known as Wolverhampton College, however adopted its current title of City of Wolverhampton College after Wolverhampton gained city status in December 2000. The college is focused on serving its local communities and has effective collaborative relationships with Wolverhampton City Council, Wolverhampton University, local DWP Job Centres, voluntary and community sector organisations and with a range of employers including micro-businesses, SMEs, multi-nationals and local Academy Trusts.
The college offers a wide range of courses and qualifications for school leavers and adult learners – from entry level to university-level HNCs, HNDs and foundation degrees – as well as a comprehensive apprenticeship scheme, a range of ‘get in to work’ schemes to improve employability skills, and a growing sector-based work academy programme (SWAPS) enabling people to upskill and retrain in local priority sectors. City of Wolverhampton College has two main campuses in the city – Paget Road in Compton, and Wellington Road in Bilston – as well as a stand-alone electric vehicle and green technologies training centre in Wednesfield and a commercial polymer training and innovation centre in Telford.
The Paget Road campus has its own sixth form centre for A Level students, as well as industry-standard engineering and motor vehicle workshops and creative arts facilities, including a broadcast suite, music and photography studios and performing arts space. The Wellington Road campus has a recently extended construction innovation centre with dedicated trade workshops and teaching area and a professional bakery kitchen, sports centre and hairdressing and barbering training salon, as well as a secure autism base for students with special educational needs and disabilities. The Wellington Road site also has dedicated outdoor training areas for groundworks and rail training, supported by West Midlands Combined Authority and a range of leading industry partners offering short, free part-time courses for job seekers as well as full-cost courses, to train new staff and upskill current employees.
The college is currently undergoing an ambitious campus transformation programme, which will see an advanced engineering and electric vehicle centre of excellence open at Wellington Road in the academic year 2023/24, and a new city centre campus open in the academic year 2024/25.
