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Founded in 1888, Blackburn College's purpose was to provide technical, employment-focussed education for Blackburn and the surrounding area. Our focus remains the same today. Students travel from across Lancashire and beyond to study at one of the largest Colleges in the UK, on a truly world-class campus, designed to provide high-quality learning and acquisition of the skills needed by employers. For the 5th year in a row, 9 out of 10 of our graduates are in work or further study, just six months after graduation. Our work with over 3,000** employers ensures we are at the heart of business development, our students aiming to become the business leaders of the future. Indeed, some 6 out of 10 of working graduates from 2015/16 now work in the Blackburn area, demonstrating the value of 'The Blackburn Graduate' to employers and the global businesses that operate out of our region. Whether it be A-Levels, a Technical, Apprenticeship, or Degree-level course you are considering, Blackburn College delivers relevant, high quality, professional and technical education, training, and skills that help you progress into employment and further study. Our students progress to world-leading Universities to continue their studies. This is testimony to the quality of education provided by Blackburn College. Throughout 2017/18, we are set to increase the number of 16-18-year-olds studying Apprenticeships with the College by over a third. This growth in Apprenticeships comes about as a direct result of our engagement with employers, which was also acknowledged in the College's recent Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) Higher Education Review. You can be sure that if you study an Apprenticeship with Blackburn College, the training you receive will be of high quality and enable you to progress in your career. We enjoyed significant A-Level grade improvements with a 7% increase in A* to C grades, a 5% increase in A* to B grades, and a 5% increase in A* and A grades. These achievements come alongside a 100% A-Level pass rate in 18 subjects enabling our students to progress to a range of top universities across the UK. As you will see, we are incredibly proud of our students' and graduates' tremendous success and the range of opportunities available to you to prepare for the world of work. We work closely with employers from a range of sectors to be an indispensable partner in supporting the economic landscape of Pennine Lancashire and beyond. We deliver specialist, bespoke training as well as Apprenticeships, Traineeships, and Professional Qualifications, all of which equip the workforce with job-relevant skills that match the current employment market. Our University Centre also provides Higher Education to employers, including Foundation Degrees, Degrees, and Higher Level Apprenticeships. Our employer engagement supports employability through enhancements to curriculum development, mentoring placements, volunteering opportunities, and industry specialist speakers. As a result, 9 out of 10 graduates are in work or further study six months after graduation for the fifth consecutive year. We are currently working with a large number of the Fab 500 (500 Lancashire businesses with the highest turnover). Between these businesses, they employ 150,000 people and have total sales of £27 billion. Examples include: Graham & Brown – Workplace training/AAT Accountancy Crown Paints – CIM/Electrical/Apprenticeships Promethean – CIPS /Management and Apprenticeships in Management & Business Administration Herbert Parkinson (Part of the John Lewis Group) – Textile Apprenticeships Fort Vale Engineering – Range of commercial courses, including Management training. At Blackburn College, everybody is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment where students feel safe and receive effective pastoral and safeguarding care, guidance, and support. We share the belief that safeguarding is everybody's responsibility and fosters this culture across the College. The College has a dedicated safeguarding team that promotes awareness of safeguarding issues and is always available to provide support to students, families, and staff. We are proud of the high quality and proactive support available for all students at Blackburn College, personal development tutorials, and valid pastoral provision. The College strives to offer the very best education and training. It recognises the importance of integrated safeguarding and support services as part of the student experience to enable students to achieve positive outcomes. View full university

Blackburn's mission is unique in higher education. We feature a student-managed work program that reduces the cost of a quality liberal arts education and links that education to skills that apply long after graduation. We are affordable and set students up for success. Not only do we have excellent academics, athletics, student life, and work programs, we do all of this in the context of community. Blackburn students, faculty, staff, and alumni work together to make sure everyone can achieve their goals. You will not be a number on our campus. Blackburn College is one of 7 work colleges in the United States, and the only one with a student-managed work program. What does this mean? You have a chance to build a strong resume, even get management experience, while attending college and reducing your costs because you are not only a student – you are staff! Blackburn offers more than 30 majors, so there is something for every career goal. Moreover, that is where the Office of Career Services comes in. Career Services can help those students who have not declared a significant focus on their search. Using Internet-based career planning tools and various assessments, the career counselor can help students match their strengths and interests with a college degree and, ultimately, with a career goal. Already have a major selected? Career Services can help those students connect their majors to a variety of career options. Career Services can also help students prepare a professional resume, conduct a career search, research graduate school programs, and find graduate assistantships and internships. Career Services hosts several career conferences to help students explore career fields and create networks of professional contacts. Career Services also hosts graduate school representatives on campus to assist students in selecting graduate school programs. Career Services also offers two career classes to help students with career planning and career placement. The Office of Career Services collaborates with three area universities to provide Blackburn students access to career fairs. The Office provides transportation to and from these career fairs. So make the most of your college experience. Have fun, develop a strong work ethic, gain management experience, build a strong resume, and create a career plan to help you gain a professional lifestyle. Join the Blackburn community and let Blackburn College work for you. The Work Program was first implemented in 1913 by Dr. William Hudson as the "Work Plan." The plan was modeled after a program at Park College in Parkville, Missouri. Several years later, students were given leadership responsibility for the program. That leadership responsibility has evolved into an organization run and managed by more than 500 young adults. The purpose of the Work Program has been to instill learning and development, community contribution, and cost reduction for our team members' continued education. We are more than 500 people who provide essential quality services primarily to Blackburn College but also to local businesses, regional nonprofit organizations, sports clubs, law enforcement departments, and virtually every school in the Macoupin County District and surrounding area. We also attend a college that provides us with a quality education applicable in every aspect of our lives, including the jobs we work. The Work Program offers an experience, unlike any other college. While living and working at Blackburn College, students gain valuable professional and interpersonal skills long before setting foot in the real-world. Blackburn College offers a real-world work experience that sets our graduates apart and oddly prepares them by other institutions. Built-in the mid-1960s by student labor, Blackburn's Lumpkin Library is home to the newly developed Lumpkin Learning Commons. After an extensive renovation project during summer 2014, the Commons now features a refurbished lobby, laptops for checkout, and collaborative workspaces. The Learning Commons is open for student and public use year-round, with phases two and three of the renovation process. The services we provide include administrative resources, athletic support, building maintenance, cleaning services, educational assistance, financial management, business and retail management, safety and security, counseling services, food and catering services, graphic design, marketing and communications resources, and research. There is no other college or university in the United States, quite like Blackburn College. Our unique campus culture is the byproduct of the purposeful melding of our nationally acclaimed student-managed Work Program and rigorous liberal arts academic curriculum. The result is a unique living laboratory for learning where the boundaries between job and classroom are blurred, and mentoring from faculty and staff knows no clock. Since 1913, Blackburn's student-managed Work Program has made the dream of a college education affordable for thousands of first-generation students by keeping the cost of our private liberal arts education within their reach. Over the years, our students have built Blackburn – brick by brick. Blackburn enjoys the distinction of being the only college campus in the United States to have been primarily built by its students. Today our students carry on this tradition by staffing mission-critical jobs as plumbers, carpenters, painters, landscapers, cooks, servers, administrators, computer technicians, janitors, graphic artists, security officers, assistant coaches, tutors, and teaching assistants. At Blackburn, students are fully vested in every aspect of their college experience, whether it is success in the classroom, managing or staffing their campus job, or governing the institution's life. View full university