Hull College

Not to be confused with Hull Municipal Training College (later Hull College of Education)
Hull College

Hull College Logo
Type Further education college
Chief Executive Gary Warke MBE
Location Queen's Gardens
Hull
East Riding of Yorkshire
HU1 3DG
England
Coordinates: 53°44′47″N 0°19′57″W / 53.746280°N 0.332400°W / 53.746280; -0.332400
DfE URN 130579 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Students 28,000
Gender Mixed
Ages Mainly Post 16–No Upper Limit
Website www.hull‑college.ac.uk

Hull College is a further education College in Hull, England. Its enrolment of around 28,000 (2005/06) makes it one of the largest schools of its type in the United Kingdom.[1] In addition to its three centres in Queen's Gardens, Cannon Street, and the KC Stadium, it also operates a centre in Goole, and another one in Harrogate as well as a further 30 locations around Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire.[1] All of the colleges form part of the Hull College Group. The Group proclaim to be one of the largest providers of its type in the country, with a turnover of over £60 million, over 1,200 staff members and over 25,000 students across its campuses.[2]

History

The main bulk of courses operated by Hull College in Hull, are run in the College's Tower Block building. With eight floors, the building was built in the 1950s and is an example of brutalist architecture. In 1967, the College took over the former Carthusian monastery, Hull Charterhouse, converting part of the building into an annex of the College.[3] By 2015, the site had been relinquished.[4] The Chesters Building, an extension of the Tower Block, houses the Learning Resource Centre and Student Support Services.[5] There is also a smaller block situated next to the Tower Block, called The Wilberforce Building. In 2012, this building was converted to the Hull Studio School. After this closed in 2014, the building was reverted into classrooms for FE courses.

The Queen's Gardens site is also home to the Hull School of Art and Design (HSAD) which was founded in 1861 and currently hosts higher education courses in the subject. The school is housed in 1970s buildings, adjacent to the college's main Tower Block.[6] Further Education courses in Art and Design are also offered at the College's Park Street site, however it was confirmed that the site would be closed and sold off at the end of the 2015–16 academic year.[7] A monument dedicated to English politician William Wilberforce, a 31-metre (102 ft) Greek Doric column topped by a statue of Wilberforce, also stands in the grounds of Hull College at Queen's Gardens.[8]

In 2003,[9] the College opened a new building named The Horncastle Building, as part of the Queen's Gardens site. Housing its drama, media and musical courses, it hosts a 200-seat theatre allowing performing arts students to perform to the general public. Students also have access to drama studios, a radio suite and an operational television studio.[10] Architects DLA Interiors were responsible for the design of all public areas, including the refectory and the classrooms.[11]

In February 2008, Hailey Giblin, a 21-year-old victim of the notorious murderer Ian Huntley, staged a rooftop protest on the top of the College's Tower Block as part of a campaign for Huntley to be charged for a child sex attack, which he had admitted committing against her. Due to her protest, College officials were forced to evacuate the top three floors of the eight-storey building.[12]

Following a 2008 inspection, an Ofsted report awarded the college a Grade 1 (outstanding). The college is a member of the 157 Group of high performing schools.[13]

In June 2009, plans for an expansive £80 million rebuild of the College buildings were halted by central government. Hull College's Queen's Gardens campus was one of a number of colleges expected to be given the go-ahead for building projects under the Building Schools for the Future programme. Plans included the demolition of the Tower Block and the provision of modern facilities that would house workshops, laboratories, kitchens, salons and a sports centre.[14] The whole programme would eventually be terminated by the Government in July 2010.

In November 2014, the Hull College Group announced that they would be taking over the University of Hull Scarborough campus. The University of Hull had since 2000 offered higher education on its satellite campus in Scarborough.[15] In January 2016, it was revealed that the college had 'pulled out' of buying the campus for unknown reasons.[16]

Controversies

Redundancies

In October 2011, as a result of central government budget cuts, the College made eighty staff members redundant following a £3.2 million shortfall in funding. Thirty of the redundancies were academic staff.[17] In June 2014, the College again asked for voluntary redundancies among staff following an expected loss of a further £1. 5million in its income, the following year. Consequently, staff morale at the College was said to be 'on its knees' due to uncertainty over their futures.[18] In January 2016, it was revealed that 385 members of staff had been made redundant from the college since 2011, with 300 from the Hull site alone.[19]

Industrial Action

In April 2016, it was announced that staff at Hull College would take industrial action following a dispute surrounding pay and working conditions, relating to a controversial lesson observation system. Despite the college offering staff a 0.7% pay rise in September 2015, as well as promising changes to a heavily criticised lesson observation process, said promises had failed to materialise. As a result, staff were apparently 'more stressed than ever'. Over four-fifths of the University and College Union (UCU) member staff members at the college that took part in the ballot, voted in favour of strike action and 95.3% in favour of action short of strike. Industrial action took place on the 3 May 2016, with picket lines outside the college's Hull and Goole sites.[20][21][22]

Hull East MP Karl Turner was also in attendance of the Hull protest, attending at the request of some of his constituents that are employees of the college. The day after the protest, Mr Turner received a strongly-worded letter from Gary Warke, the Chief Executive of the college, condemning his attendance. Mr Warke expressed his 'sincere disappointment' that Mr Turner had not informed him or any other member of the college Group Management Team, that he had planned on doing so. Mr Warke also suggested that Mr Turner had only heard 'one side of the dispute' and that his actions were 'highly inappropriate and disrespectful' to the Hull College Group. In response, Mr Turner expressed shock at the 'threatening and derogatory tone' of the letter, suggesting that these comments were likely the 'same bullying tactics' used against the staff that had been 'forced' to protest.[23] He also described Mr Warke's letter as 'veiled threats'.[24]

Academic

Hull Studio School

In September 2012, a studio school named 'Hull Studio School' was opened by the Hull College Group and based at the Queen's Garden's campus. In March 2014, less than two years after opening, the school was closed due to a 'lack of interest'.[25][26] During its short lifetime, Hull Studio School had received over £1 million in Government funding from the Department for Education. The 26 Year 10 pupils attending the school at the time were forced to move to other institutions by the end of the 2013–14 academic year.[27]

A-Levels

In August 2014, the College announced that they would be creating a new A-Level centre to double the number of students studying the qualification at their Hull campus. In October that year, the College reversed the decision and announced that they would instead stop offering A-Level subjects for students, with the final year being the end of the 2014–15 academic year. The College stated that they would instead focus on vocational qualifications. The decision was said to have caused anger among students.[28]

Art and Design

In December 2015, it was announced that Art and Design courses which had been based at the College's Park Street centre in Hull for a number of years, would be relocated after the building had been sold off. Whilst courses still ongoing would remain in the building until June 2016, courses would move to the Queen's Gardens site for September 2016.[7] The Victorian building was Grade II listed in November 1973, and had been converted for educational use in around 1950.[29] Staff members however claimed that the proposed future site for the Art and Design department, the 'Tower Block', was 'completely full' and could not accommodate any more courses. Students were similarly disillusioned at the shortsightedness of the sale, considering that Kingston upon Hull had been awarded the title of UK City of Culture, with celebrations to commence in just over a year.[4]

Management

The current Principal of Hull College is Graham Towse. Towse had joined the College in 1996 and in April 2013 took up the post as Principal.[30] The current Principal of Goole College is Caron Wright.[31]

The Chair of the Hull College Group Corporation is Pat Tomlinson. The Vice Chairs are Andrew Manderfield, Paul Hollins and Chris Fenwick. Governors include Melissa Askew, Stuart Clark, Alliah Hamid, Hilary Jack, Karen Keaney, Shane McMurray, Lee Pearson (Students' Union President), Chris Roberts, James Tabar, Gary Warke (Chief Executive) and Lattie Thompson (Chair to the Corporation).[32]

The Deputy Chief Executive of Hull College is Lee Probert.[33]

Vocational training

The Hull College 'Horncastle' building. Situated near North Bridge, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Apart from higher education, Hull College also provides several short vocational training programmes.

Maritime / Logistics[34]

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 "Ofsted report 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  2. ↑ "Hull College Group". www.hull-college-careers.co.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "Charterhouse Conservation Area (2010), section 6.2.3" (PDF). Hull City Council. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 "04/12/2015 Homes for Heroes in Hull". Breakfast – BBC Radio Humberside. BBC. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Queen’s Gardens – Hull College". www.hull-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "Hull School of Art and Design – Hull College". www.hull-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Hull College to close and sell Park Street campus". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  8. ↑ "The Wilberforce Monument". Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  9. ↑ "Hull College Riverside Theatre | Stage Jobs Pro". Stage Jobs Pro. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  10. ↑ "Creative Arts – Hull College". www.hull-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  11. ↑ "DLA Interiors – Projects – Education – Hull College". www.dla-interiors.co.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  12. ↑ "Huntley victim". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  13. ↑ "157 Group". Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  14. ↑ "Hull College will not get new building". Hull Daily Mail. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  15. ↑ "Hull College set to take over University of Hull's Scarborough campus". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "Yorkshire Coast Radio – News – Hull College Group Pulls Out of Scarborough". Yorkshire Coast Radio. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Hull College staff cuts 'will hit students' ‒ up to 80 could go". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Hull College asks for voluntary redundancies". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  19. ↑ "Funding cuts lead to 300 redundancies in four years at Hull College". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
  20. ↑ "Picket line at Hull College as staff strike over pay and working conditions". Hull Daily Mail. 2016-05-03. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  21. ↑ "‘Stressed and anxious’ college staff vote in favour of strike action". The Independent. 2016-04-26. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  22. ↑ "Staff to strike at Hull College". ITV News. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  23. ↑ "Hull College attacked by MP Karl Turner after it criticises his megaphone protest". Hull Daily Mail. 2016-05-05. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  24. ↑ "MP accuses college boss of ‘bullying tactics’". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  25. ↑ "Hull Studio School to close two years after opening". BBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  26. ↑ "Hull Studio School to close after 'a lack of interest'". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Hull Studio School closure: Unanswered questions over £1m of public funding". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  28. ↑ "Students' anger as Hull College scraps A-levels". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  29. ↑ Historic England. "HULL COLLEGE OF FURTHER EDUCATION PARK STREET ANNEXE (1197704)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  30. ↑ "Principal of Hull College: Graham Towse – Hull College". www.hull-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  31. ↑ "Goole College and HCUK Training set to launch Goole Business & Logistics Centre – Goole College". www.goole-college.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  32. ↑ "Governor Profiles – Hull College". www.hull-college.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  33. ↑ "Deputy Chief Executive: Lee Probert – Hull College". Deputy Chief Executive: Lee Probert – Hull College. Hull College. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  34. ↑ "Maritime & Logistics Training at Hull College". Hull College. Retrieved 27 November 2014.

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