City College Norwich - Campus

Campus

The College is based on a large campus close to Norwich city centre on the Ipswich Road from where the majority of its courses are delivered. The Norwich Building was opened in 1953 and other buildings have been opened at various times since. The Ipswich Road campus is home to the Debut Restaurant, based within the College’s Hotel School, which is open to the public during term time. Members of the public can also visit the College’s Solutions Hair and Beauty Salons, and Solutions Gym — all part of the College’s learning model of giving students work experience in real working environments. A shop "Ego", staffed by the College’s retail students, opened in 2011, giving retail students the opportunity to experience the full range of roles within a real working environment.

The College also has a site at St Andrews House in the centre of Norwich. Opened by the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling, in December 2007, St Andrews House is home to the National Skills Academy for Financial Services and is the base for the College's business courses. Here students are taught in a modern environment with the latest facilities which have been modelled on those that would be found in any contemporary financial services company headquarters.

City College Norwich has a strong reputation for employer engagement. The College is unique in having 5 sector-based National Skills Academies—in Creative and Cultural skills, Financial Services, Hospitality, Manufacturing and Retail. In 2008 the College won a National Training Award for its work with Lotus Cars.

In 2009 the College won a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its work with students with Asperger’s Syndrome. The College’s RUGroom provides a safe haven and a social and study space for students with AS and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders. The unique ingredient has been the involvement of the College’s AS learners — who named themselves “The Really Useful Group” — in the design of an AS friendly physical environment which developed into the RUGroom. The RUGroom was opened in February 2008 by Charles Clarke, a member of parliament at the time, and has since won a string of awards in recognition of the excellence of its leading edge work including two National Training Awards in 2008 and 2009.

In 2011 the college has come under criticism for making over 30 of its staff redundant and closing departments, including Computing.