General further education colleges

General further education colleges offer high-quality academic, technical and vocational education to people of all ages. There are 163 further education colleges in England, educating hundreds of thousands of students each year.

The colleges offer a broad suite of qualifications and courses in levels 1 to 6, including higher national certificates (HNCs), higher national diplomas (HNDs), A levels, apprenticeships, T levels, GCSEs, BTECs, Cambridge technicals, post-graduate degrees and many more. There’s also a huge range of choices in skills to study: from engineering and hospitality, to IT and construction. You can often also study A levels at a general further education college.

Lecturers have often come to teaching after a successful career in their respective industries, which means that students are taught to demonstrate industry-level skills, behaviours and attitudes. Further education colleges take pride in their facilities too, and inside many buildings, you’ll find high specification, industry-standard facilities.