West London College Celebrates Colleges Week

Last week, West London College celebrated the AOC’s Colleges Week, part of their Love Our Colleges campaign, with a variety of activities and visits from local MPs to our centres. The week saw a variety of special events take place, including  Freshers’ Fayres, where students were able to learn about the wide range of enrichment and extracurricular activities on offer to them.

The week culminated with special visits from local MPs to Ealing Green College and Southall Community College on Thursday 21 October 2021. Dr. Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central and Acton, visited Ealing Green College, whilst Virendra Sharma, MP for Ealing Southall, visited Southall Community Centre. Both MPs met with staff and students to see how the college is transforming the lives of the communities it serves.

Colleges Week is an important part of the Love Our Colleges campaign and is a partnership between the Association of Colleges (AoC), National Union of Students (NUS), the Association of College and School Leaders (ASCL), University and Colleges Union (UCU), GMB, TUC, National Education Union (NEU) and UNISON. It recognises the importance of further education colleges and the impact they have on people’s lives. Each year, colleges transform the lives of over 2.2 million people, helping them achieve their goals, and driving social mobility. Colleges are at the heart of the communities they serve, helping businesses improve productivity with an adequately trained workforce, and increasing economic growth. Despite their importance in the English education system, colleges have faced an average 30% funding cut over the last decade; this year, Colleges Week is more important than ever as the Skills & Post 16 Education Bill goes through Parliament and the country is re-shaped post-furlough and post-pandemic.

We would like to thank Dr. Rupa Huq MP and Virenda Sharma MP for visiting us during Colleges Week and for being so generous with their time.