Education & Academic Excellence
The West of England can boast the strengths of 4 excellent universities (University of Bristol, University of the West of England, University of Bath and Bath Spa University) located in the city centres and in key locations around the sub-region providing a high quality teaching and research offer. These achievements, together with strong collaborative and industrial performance were recognised by the UK government in 2005 in designating Bristol as one of 6 English Science Cities.
There were 71,585 students at the four Universities in 2005, this has increased by 24,556 since 1996 and is expected to continue to rise. The Universities offer a range of undergraduate and postgraduate provision both in specialised subjects and core disciplines.
There are also a wide range of public and private training providers and educational institutions in Bristol and the West of England. Two of the largest are listed below as examples of the focused training opportunities available to the business community.
Filton College provides a range of further education full-time courses for over 2000 14-19 year olds in both academic and vocational areas. Over 10,000 adult learners from within Bristol and South Gloucestershire study part-time courses at the College or at over 50 locations within the community that are delivered by a team of community based tutors. The college has a dedicated Employer Engagement team helping businesses in Bristol and South Gloucestershire identify and deliver their training needs.
City of Bristol College caters for approximately 42,000 students aged 14 to adult and offering over 1,000 learning opportunities including unique specialist courses. The college was recently rated by Ofsted as the top-performing College in the West of England and it is ranked one of the top 10 per cent of colleges throughout the UK. The employer-focused arm of City of Bristol College is the Partners in Business office whose mission is to fill skills gaps to ensure business success.
