MidKent College

MidKent College (formerly Mid-Kent College of Higher and Further Education) is a further education college in Kent, England. It runs courses from two separate campuses in Maidstone and Medway, including a number of higher education courses.

There are approximately 8,500 students aged 16 years and upwards enrolled at the college. Courses offered range from pre-entry level to degree level and cover a wide range of vocational and academic subject areas.

The college has two main campuses: the Medway Campus in Gillingham and the Maidstone Campus (formerly the Oakwood Park Centre).

In September 2009 all courses at the old sites of the Horsted Centre in Chatham and the City Way Centre in Rochester were moved to a new combined campus on Prince Arthur Road in Gillingham. The new campus, which received more than £40 million of Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding, cost a total of £86million. It offers training facilities in a range of subject areas including construction, performing arts, music and catering.

The Medway Campus was officially opened by The Princess Royal on Thursday 25 March 2010.

In late 2012 work started on a £22 million refurbishment of the Maidstone Campus to bring its facilities up to the standard of the Medway Campus. The wider development of the Maidstone Campus also includes a refurbishment of the University for the Creative Arts' Maidstone campus – also located at Oakwood Park – which was purchased by the College in 2011.

In 2014 both City Way and Horsted centres were demolished.

The college has been delivering vocational education in Medway and Maidstone for nearly 100 years. Its roots lie in the technical institutes established within the Medway towns in the 1890s and Maidstone around 1918.

The college first began delivering courses from the Horsted Centre in Chatham in 1954. The site was opened as Medway College of Technology by the Duke of Edinburgh on 5 April the following year.

Medway College of Technology and Maidstone Technical College amalgamated in 1966 to become Medway and Maidstone College of Technology. The purpose-built City Way site in Rochester was subsequently opened as an additional college site in 1968.

...
Wikipedia