PROCAT was a

further education college Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It ...

based in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England, with an additional campus in

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames Estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ...

. ''PROCAT'' is an acronym of "Prospect College of Advanced Technology", and the college specialises in engineering and construction training. In 2018, it merged with South Essex College and is now is a brand name for their provision.

History

PROCAT was started in 1969 by the Engineering Industry Training Board (EITB) as SENTRA to train engineering apprentices. They were originally located at 83 Vanguard Way, Shoeburyness before opening a further site at Fairfax Drive,

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

. During the 1990s SENTRA started using the trading name Prospects Training and moved into further training areas including Construction. During the 00s Prospects purchased the Pegasus Training Centre in

, and changed the company name to Prospects Learning Foundation, trading as Prospects College. They then initially took over as trustees of Thorpe Bay School in Southend in 2006, moving its Southend centre to this location in 2010 and rebranding it Futures Community College. In 2007 they moved into new premises in Crompton Close, Basildon. In 2012 a new £10m centre in Basildon was opened next door to the existing Basildon centre. This was followed by a further centre on

in 2013. In 2015 Prospects College become the first new incorporated FE college in 20 years and was rebranded PROCAT. In January 2016 it was announced that the Southend Centre would close for the expansion of Futures College. In March 2017 it was announced that PROCAT had won the contract to manage the

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

Tunnelling & Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) which had originally been setup by the

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

project. In May 2018 PROCAT was told by the FE commissioner that they were unlikely to be able to deal with their financial difficulties alone and were told to merge by the end of 2018. In June 2018, David Sherlock, chairman of PROCAT announced that they had agreed to merge with South Essex College but stay an independent brand within the group specializing in technical, engineering and construction training. The new Stephenson Road campus of South Essex College was opened under the PROCAT brand.

References

External links

PROCAT Website - www.procat.ac.uk {{coord, 51.5809, 0.4487, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Educational institutions established in 1969 Further education colleges in Essex 1969 establishments in England