Exeter College is a general further education college in Exeter, Devon; it was the first such college in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and was the highest-ranked in the country in 2017. The college has its origins in the

Royal Albert Memorial Museum Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM) is a museum and art gallery in Exeter, Devon, the largest in the city. It holds significant and diverse collections in areas such as zoology, anthropology, fine art, local and foreign archaeolog ...

, founded in 1869, and first became an independent institution in 1893 as the Exeter Technical and University Extension College. After using various different sites, the college's preceding institution moved into its current main campus in 1959, and was established in its present form as the first English further education college in 1970. The college is based around a campus at Hele Road and several other sites around the city, educating approximately twelve thousand students. This includes both sixteen to eighteen-year-olds and mature (adult) students. In addition, Exeter College jointly runs the specialist

Exeter Mathematics School Exeter Mathematics School is a maths school located in Exeter in the English county of Devon. It opened in September 2014 under the free schools initiative and is sponsored by Exeter College and the University of Exeter. It is intended to b ...

with the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

, with the college providing extra-curricular activities and pastoral support, and with students at the Maths School able to study one A-level at the college. The tower block at the Hele Road campus, completed in 1963, is the third-tallest building in Exeter.

History

Origins, 1869-1893

Exeter College can trace its origins back to the opening of the

(RAMM) in 1869. At its opening, the RAMM included a School of Science and a School of Art. In January 1891, the local government decided to use the Technical Instruction Act 1889 to either found a new technical institution in the city or to fund lectures and courses in the RAMM's two schools. The latter option was chosen, and by June three such lectures had taken place "for the furtherance of technical education among working men", attended by six hundred and sixty people; the local University Extension Committee had sponsored two further "people's lectures", attended by nine hundred people in total. The scheme was subject to some criticism for being poorly planned.

Exeter College, 1970-present

In September 1970, Exeter Technical College became the first

tertiary college In England and Wales, a tertiary college is a type of further education (FE) college that offers both academic and vocational courses to both teenagers and adults, combining the main functions of an FE college and a sixth form college. Unlike a si ...

in England, combining the features of a typical further education college with a sixth form college. It renamed itself to the Exeter College of Further Education. In February 1972, the college was renamed to Exeter College, and it was given approval to offer the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

in December 1992. Victoria House, opposite

Exeter Central railway station Exeter Central railway station is the most central of the stations in the city of Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom. It is down the line from . The station is smaller than on the west side of the city. Great Western Railway manages the station a ...

, was purchased by the college in June 1995, and is still in use to this day. After an inspection in 2000 by the FE Funding Council, the college was declared "one of the best in the west". In 2012 the technology centre opened, followed by the gym and dance studio in 2019. In January 2019, the college announced it would be spending £70 million on altering the Hele Road site, including demolishing the tower block and allowing the public to cross through the campus to

Exeter St Davids railway station Exeter St Davids railway station is the principal and largest railway station in Exeter, also the second-busiest station in Devon. It is from the zero point at , from where trains travel through Exeter to and . The station is also served by ...

Buildings and sites

Centre for Creative Industries

The Centre for Creative Industries is a building dedicated to the

creative arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

. This includes film and media, physical art, photography and radio broadcasting. It also contains the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Exeter studios.

Centre for Music and Performance

The Centre for Music and Performance is the college's centre for non physical or

digital art Digital art, or the digital arts, is artistic work that uses Digital electronics, digital technology as part of the creative or presentational process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960 ...

, and mostly teaches the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

and music. They have purpose built dance floors and rehearsal rooms.

Digital and Data Centre

The Digital and Data Centre is located on the Hele Road site, containing IT suites, seminar spaces and digital learning laboratories. The building teaches

Information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

and other digital courses.

Construction Centre

The Construction Centre (also known as Falcon House) is the college's hub for construction, which hosts

bricklaying Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and Mortar (masonry), mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called ''Course (architecture), courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks ...

retrofitting Retrofitting is the addition of new technology or features to older systems. Retrofits can happen for a number of reasons, for example with big capital expenditures like naval vessels, military equipment or manufacturing plants, businesses or go ...

joinery Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives ...

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. C ...

, and more. Unlike most other Exeter college locations, it is not within walking distance of the city centre and instead is located in Sowton industrial estate.

Exwick Sports Pavilion

Exwick Sports Pavilion is a sport facility containing a 3G AstroTurf pitch, tennis facilities, six

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

courts, two classrooms, a sports therapy room and a

gym A gym, short for gymnasium (: gymnasiums or gymnasia), is an indoor venue for exercise and sports. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasion". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learn ...

Future Skills Centre

The Future Skills Centre is a building owned jointly by the college and

Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon. The council is based at Devon County Hall in the city of Exeter. The area administered by the county council is termed the non-metropolitan county, which is ...

. It was previously owned by

Flybe Flybe may refer to: * Flybe (1979–2020) Flybe (pronounced ), styled as flybe, was a British airline based in Exeter, England. Launched in 1979 as Jersey European Airways, and renamed Flybe in 2002, at various points it was the largest ind ...

and used as a training academy. Currently, travel and tourism classes study there, alongside

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

due to its proximity to the airport. It also has a small non-flying aircraft which is maintained by the students. Second year T-level Design, Surveying and Planning students also attend this campus, due to Falcon House being at capacity. The building also hosts meetings and sessions, as well as police training.

Haven Banks Outdoor Education Centre

Haven Banks is situated on Exeter Quay, and runs

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

, first aid and team building activities.

Hele Road site

The Hele Road site, which is the main college site, comprises the Tower and Hele buildings, the adjoining Digital and Data Centre and a number of other smaller buildings. The bulk of the college's administration and teaching is situated on-site.

Maths and Science Centre

The Maths and Science Centre contains 11 science laboratories, a forensics suite, a large computing lab and many specialist classrooms. The building hosts maths, science,

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

courses.

Sports hall, gym and dance studio

The Sports hall, gym and dance studio is a large building with space for dance, exercise and other sport activities.

Technology Centre

The Technology Centre hosts aerospace, engineering and automotive students. It has a CAD suite with over 24 computers,

CNC machine Computer numerical control (CNC) or CNC machining is the automated control of machine tools by a computer. It is an evolution of numerical control (NC), where machine tools are directly managed by data storage media such as punched cards or ...

s and other high tech equipment. It has the largest virtual welding facility in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and five 3D printers.

Victoria House

Victoria House teaches business, IT,

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

s and leisure and tourism courses. IT suites can be found throughout the building.

Organisation

Academic profile

Student life

Many of the college's buildings and campuses are located near the city centre, providing amenities to students after or in-between lessons. There are many clubs and societies, ranging from self defence to beach cleans and student-led clubs, such as the book club or the LGBTQIA+ student group. There is a gym available to students from 7am to 7pm each day on weekdays.

Notable alumni

Matt Bellamy Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English singer, songwriter and producer. He is the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and lyricist for the English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccentric stage persona, wide tenor vocal ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

Alistair Brammer Alistair Daniel Brammer (born 12 November 1988) is an English actor best known for playing Jean Prouvaire in both the 2010 special '' Les Misérables: 25th Anniversary Concert'' and the 2012 musical film ''Les Misérables''. Brammer performed as ...

, actor *

Michael Caines Michael Andrew Caines (born 3 January 1969) is an English chef born in Exeter, Devon. He was head chef of Gidleigh Park in Devon until January 2016. He is currently the chef owner of the Lympstone Manor hotel between Exeter and Exmouth, whic ...

– chef and owner of Lympstone Manor *

Jim Causley Jim Causley (born 1980) is a British folk singer, songwriter, and musician from Devon who specializes in the traditional songs and music of the West Country. Journalist Colin Irwin has called him "the finest singer of his generation". Biograph ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ian *

Elliott Frear Elliott Thomas Frear (born 11 September 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for club Taunton Town. Career Frear signed for Exeter City at the age of 11 and progressed through the club's Centre of Excellence side ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Conrad Humphreys Conrad David Humphreys (born 13 February 1973) is a British professional yachtsman and motivational speaker. Humphreys has competed in three round the world races (Whitbread Round the World Race 1993–94 and the BT Global Challenge 2000–2001 ...

– professional yachtsman *

Luke Newberry Luke Newberry is an English actor. He is known for his Leading actor, leading role in the drama television series ''In the Flesh (TV series), In the Flesh'' (2013–2014), which earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. Early l ...

, actor *

Jo Pavey Joanne Marie Pavey MBE (née Davis, born 20 September 1973) is a British retired long-distance runner. A World, European and Commonwealth medallist, Pavey won the 10,000 m gold medal at the 2014 European Championships as the oldest fema ...

– Olympic long-distance runner *

Luke Pearce Luke Pearce (born 13 November 1987) is an English rugby union referee representing the Rugby Football Union. He is a regular referee in the English Premiership and has refereed games at European level and at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Refereei ...

– English rugby union referee * Joe Talbot, lead singer in

Idles Idles are an English post-punk band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Adam Devonshire (bass), Joe Talbot (singer), Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), and Jon Beavis (drums). After spending eight yea ...

Josh Widdicombe Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on ''The Last Leg'' (2012–present), '' Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), '' Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Moc ...

, comedian *

Marie Goldman Marie Clare Goldman is a British Liberal Democrat politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Chelmsford since 2024. She is the first non-Conservative politician to represent Chelmsford in 74 years. She is the Liberal Democr ...

, Member of Parliament for Chelmsford since 2024

References

External links

Exeter College website

Ofsted: Exeter College, Exeter

University of Plymouth: Partner Institutions

Exeter College Students' Union
{{coord, 50, 43, 42, N, 3, 32, 19, W, display=title, type:edu_region:GB Education in Exeter Further education colleges in Devon Buildings and structures in Exeter Educational institutions established in 1970 International Baccalaureate schools in England