Education
The West Midlands contains seven universities. Aston University, the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University are all located in Birmingham. Coventry University and the University of Warwick are located in Coventry whilst Wolverhampton University is located in Wolverhampton with campuses in Telford and Walsall. It had a campus in Dudley until 2002, when it was replaced by a new building in Wolverhampton city centre and the Dudley site became part of Dudley College.
The Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies and Newman College, both in Birmingham, received university college status in 2008 and 2007, respectively. The colleges changed their names as a result and both pledged to become Birmingham's fourth university. University College Birmingham, formerly Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies, purchased a 2-acre (8,100 m2) site in the Jewellery Quarter area of Birmingham to expand its student capacity from 3,500 to 4,000 which would make it eligible for University status.
Each of the local authorities has at least one further education college for students aged over 16, and since September 1992 all of the local authorities have operated traditional 5-7 infant, 7-11 junior, and 11-16/18 secondary schools for students in compulsory education. This followed the demise of 5-8 first, 8-12 middle and 12-16/18 secondary schools in the Sutton Coldfield area.
For 18 years before September 1990, Dudley had operated 5-8 first, 8-12 middle, and 12-16/18 secondary schools before then, while Halesowen (September 1972 until July 1982) and Aldridge-Brownhills (September 1972 until July 1986) had both operated 5-9 first, 9-13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools.
Many local authorities still have sixth form facilities in secondary schools, though sixth form facilities had been axed by most secondary schools in Dudley since the early 1990s (and in Halesowen in 1982) as the local authorities changed direction towards further education colleges.
All secondary state education in Dudley and Sandwell is mixed comprehensive, although there are a small number of single sex and grammar schools existing in parts of Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall.
In August 2009, Matthew Boulton College and Sutton Coldfield College merged to become Birmingham Metropolitan College, one of the largest further and higher education institutions in the country. Plans are afoot for the construction of a new campus in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham.
Read more about this topic: West Midlands (county)
Famous quotes containing the word education:
“How to attain sufficient clarity of thought to meet the terrifying issues now facing us, before it is too late, is ... important. Of one thing I feel reasonably sure: we can’t stop to discuss whether the table has or hasn’t legs when the house is burning down over our heads. Nor do the classics per se seem to furnish the kind of education which fits people to cope with a fast-changing civilization.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“There are words in that letter to his wife, respecting the education of his daughters, which deserve to be framed and hung over every mantelpiece in the land. Compare this earnest wisdom with that of Poor Richard.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Law without education is a dead letter. With education the needed law follows without effort and, of course, with power to execute itself; indeed, it seems to execute itself.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)