We interviewed the chairs of 28 college governing bodies in England (the FEFC’s remit is limited to England) - three from each of the nine Further Education Funding Council regions, and one extra from Yorkshire and Humberside.
As far as possible the spread of types of college mirrors their real distribution. We talked to 14 general FE colleges out of 223, 6 sixth form colleges out of 11; 4 tertiary colleges out of 64; 2 agriculture and horticulture colleges out of 36; one of the 13 art, design and performing arts colleges; and one of the 14 colleges in FEFC regions.
“Colleges in the FEFC regions” are not strictly FE colleges. Their work is mostly adult education, but they are under the supervision of the FEFC from which they receive a large proportion of their funding. They include famous adult education institutions like the Workers Educational Association, The City Literary Institute, the Working Men’s College, Fircroft College in Birmingham, and Ruskin College in Oxford.
The full list of interviewees, broken down by FEFC region, is: Northern Region:
Ron Goodwin, Cleveland Tertiary College Geoff Nichol, Darlington College of Technology Ray Waller, Hartlepool College
North West:
Ray Holden,South Trafford College John Collins, Widnes Sixth Form College Bill Wannop, Newton Rigg College
Yorkshire and Humberside:
Peter Fox, Bishop Burton College of Agriculture Sir Douglas Brown, Leeds College of Art and Design Alan Owen, York Sixth Form College Bob Sowman, Bradford andIlkley Community College
West Midlands:
George Mardle, Stoke on Trent College John Roberts, Henley College, Coventry James Millington, Kidderminster College
East Midlands:
Wendy Farrow, Daventry Tertiary College Kath Taylor, Hinckley College Philip Newton, Grantham College
Eastern:
John Bruce, South East Essex College of Arts and Technology Colin Tagg, Dunstable College Dr Richard Bruckdorfer, Luton Sixth Form College
South West:
John Ault, Yeovil College Jeremy Blatchford, Norton Radstock `College Admiral Sir Ted Horlick, City of Bath College
South East:
Professor Michael Eraut, Lewes Tertiary College Audrey Simpson, Brighton College of Technology Dr Peter Mills, Portsmouth Sixth Form College
Greater London:
Ivor Hockman, Woodhouse Sixth Form College Monty Williams, City Literary Institute Monsignor John Coughlan, St Dominic’s Sixth Form College.
