Alison Andreas

At Colchester Institute we are passionate about your success.
Colchester Institute provides first class education, professional development and technical skills training to over 8,000 young people and adults every year. The College supports individuals to launch or develop their careers, and local businesses to access the skills and talent they need to thrive. The College has two main campuses in Colchester and Braintree.

Programmes include full and part time further education courses, degrees and Apprenticeships as well as short courses for industry.

Vocational learning is an integral part of all of our courses, where the knowledge gained from practical activities with cutting edge, industry standard resources, work placements and theory provides students with strong knowledge and skills in their chosen field. Our ambition is to ensure that all students achieve the best possible results they can, giving them a competitive edge when entering employment or taking their studies to the next level.

In Colchester, over the last 12 months we transformed our main buildings to provide outstanding new facilities supporting Business, Accounting and Computing, and Sport and Public Services. We opened a 40-station new state of the art commercial hair salon and a brand-new beauty salon.  In addition we officially opened our new Early Years suite, that now supports T Level qualifications. We continue to expand our construction workshop facilities and will launch a Net Zero Centre in early 2024. All of this activity follows on from opening our flagship £5m Health and Social Care facility in 2020, complete with replica clinical and care settings and immersive technologies. These developments complement our fabulous facilities for all other areas and especially Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing, Creative Media, Hospitality, Performing Arts and Art and Design.

At Braintree we completed our campus transformation programme in 2019, providing outstanding learning environments for all subject areas, including some of the very best facilities in the country for Digital Media and Engineering. Both main campuses feature a welcoming library, study zones, student services and refectory facilities to support students.

Our degree students, enrolled at University Centre Colchester enjoy their own building and facilities and study on a wide range of degrees and apprenticeships, which are also focused strongly on preparing them for work, or progression at work.  University Centre Colchester has an excellent track record for its graduates gaining work or further study on leaving the University Centre.

Alison Andreas, Principal and Chief Executive