South Downs College is a further education college located in Waterlooville, to the north of Portsmouth, England.
The College occupies a single site, purpose-built campus on Portsdown Hill, within the Borough of Havant.
The majority of the College's students are drawn from Havant and Portsmouth, an area with a combined population of over 300,000.
It currently offers 45 A-Level subjects and 40 vocational subjects to full-time students as well as over 600 courses for part-time students.
Some of the College's part-time provision is based off-campus mostly within schools and community centres to meet more localised needs. The College actively supports lifelong learning within the community and aims to expand its provision in local centres opening, in October 2000, the Leigh Park Learning Centre in the Greywell shopping precinct in Leigh Park.
South Downs College is continually improving its facilities with twelve new building programmes in as many years. Major developments include: new teaching areas, theatre and allied performing arts provision; a large modern training salon in the Hair and Beauty Department; a Fitness Centre containing state of the art facilities and equipment, including a large area with both CV machines and free weights; a new purpose built music building, featuring recital room, practice rooms and a recording studio; a refurbished fully licensed restaurant; enhanced laboratories; media studio; networked information technology facilities and a new purpose built animal building for handling and care courses.
As a result the college has become increasingly popular and currently has around 5,000 full-time students and 7,000 part-time students.
The College's exam results are consistently above the national average. In 2009 students achieved a 99.6% A Level pass rate out of 1,698 entries, the highest in the College's history and improving on the 99.5% achieved in 2008.
Of the 44 subjects sat, 41 achieved a 100% pass rate and 81% of students achieved an A-C grade with 50% achieving an A or B grade. Art & Design, Critical Thinking and Latin all achieved 100% A-C profile.
In 2005 the South Downs College was judged to be an 'outstanding college' by Ofsted. In October 2007 Ofsted again judged the College as 'outstanding'.
In 2009 the College Restaurant and Café Bar was declared regional winner for the South for the third time in four years and overall UK winner of the College Restaurant of the Year competition.
Famous quotes containing the words south, downs and/or college:
“There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear—the city of London and the South Seas.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes, you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate,—and meantime it is only puss and her tail.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Mrs. Pilletti: This girl is a college graduate.
Catherine: They’re the worst. College girls are one step from the street, I tell you.”
—Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981)