College net - Find colleges in the UK

Colleges in the UK

Colleges of Further Education in the UK fall into the following major categories:

General FE Colleges
Sixthform colleges
Specialist Colleges
Land Based Colleges
FE in HE Colleges / provision
Adult Colleges
Arts Colleges

The current 2005-06 overall total of all FE colleges is: 588

The breakdown is as follows:

General Further Education 329
Sixthform colleges 103
Specialist colleges 46
Land Based colleges 36
FE in HE college 22
Adult colleges 20
Arts colleges 34

The total number of colleges drops every year due to frequent mergers. Please assist College net to keep its listing accurate by e-mailing any changes.

The regional breakdown of the 432 general and sixthform colleges is:

Scotland 42
Northern Ireland 16 ( currently under a major re-organisation proposal )
Wales 22
England 352

The breakdown of the 352 general and sixthform colleges in England by major LSC region is:

North East 22
North West 59
Yorkshire and Humberside 36
East Midlands 24
West Midlands 45
East of England 32
South West 29
South East 60
London 45

It should be noted that whereas the figures for general and FE colleges are accurate it is more difficult to verify the total number of specialist, adult and arts colleges because of differences in designation. If any FE colleges are missing from our lists please email and they will be entered. With your help we will strive to maintain an up-to-date and accurate database.

The 103 sixthform colleges are all located in England bar one. There are none in Scotland or Northern Ireland and only one in Wales. Sixthform colleges were originally designed to serve the 40% of high schools without their own sixthforms. Consequently their focus is primarily 16-19 and academic courses.

The current trends are for an expansion of FE in HE provision, increasing number of mergers i.e. between General FE and sixthform colleges or land based colleges.