West Suffolk College is a rural further education college with its main campus located in Out Risbygate and Construction and Building Services at The Milburn Centre, Anglian Lane, both within Bury St Edmunds. In addition, we serve our rural community through Local Learning Centres in Haverhill, Ipswich, Mildenhall, Thetford, Stowmarket and Sudbury. We use over a hundred different venues around the county to deliver our programmes.

In 2014/15 the College had over 11,010 students including 14-16 students, 16-18 students, apprentices, workplace learners and adult students. There were 610 Higher Education students. 

In addition to Full-time, Part-time and Adult Education, we have a large contract for Apprenticeships and training for businesses. In support of these programmes we work with more than 1,700 employers and in 2014/15 delivered a substantial volume of full cost courses to employers. We are a member of University Campus Suffolk and provide full and part-time degree courses. Our annual graduation is held in St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and is a very important day for our students and the town alike.

Success Rates

• 84.2% success rate for all ages on long and short qualifications
• 86% success rate for 16-18 long qualifications
• 80.8% success rate for 19+ long qualifications
• 78% success rate for Full Apprenticeship Framework
• 88.7% success rate for Full NVQ2 and 3 delivered in the workplace
• 87.7 success rate for Higher Education students

We are a large local employer with 331 full-time staff and a turnover of £26 million.