Westminster Kingsway College

Westminster Kingsway College is a further education college in central London with centres in King's Cross and Regent's Park in Camden, together with Victoria (1910) and Soho centres in Westminster. The college has around 14,000 students across all age ranges and provides further, adult and higher education programmes including full-time and part-time vocational, professional and academic courses at different levels. 75% of students are over the age of 21 and there are over 60 nationalities and around 50 languages spoken. Students are mainly from London. An international department has students from overseas including those who attend study visits, exchanges and internships from partner colleges overseas.

One of the college's most notable features is the assisted learning support or (ALS). This department has around 25 staff members who contribute to one of the most progressive and comprehensive learning support departments in central London. The learner support offered can range from a hand in study skills for people who are re-entering education, to care and guidance for students with (ASD) and other learning disabilities.

The college was founded in September 2000 following the merger of Westminster and Kingsway Colleges. The Victoria centre, where the School of Hospitality first opened its doors to learners in 1910 and celebrated its centenary in 2010. Based in Vincent Square, the centre houses the college's own restaurant, The Vincent Rooms, with cuisine prepared and served by second and third year professional chef students.

The college provides community education, with a programme of neighbourhood learning in partnership with Camden Council and in Westminster with local organisations.

The college's specialist subjects have been given to vocational training including Hospitality, Creative Media, Performing Arts, Business and Public Administration. It also provides higher education for about 250 full-time equivalent students on foundation degrees in Business, Hospitality Management, Culinary Arts, Travel & Tourism, Accounting and Public Administration.

The college principal and chief accounting officer is Andy Wilson. The college employs about 650 people in both teaching and business support departments.

Westminster College began as a School of Hospitality in Vincent Square in 1910 when in 1908 a consultative committee which included Sir Isidore Salmon, Auguste Escoffier and Cesar Ritz was established to design training programmes in professional cookery in readiness to produce graduates that could work in London's finest hotels. The first course to be developed was the Cookery Technical Day School, which was soon to be formulated into the Professional Chef Diploma. Within a couple of years, the school had added food service to its course portfolio and a training restaurant was opened. Records show that this was in fact the UK's first Hospitality School established in 1910.

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