Harrow College is a further education college in England with two campuses (both in Harrow) - one at the foot of Harrow-on-the-Hill and the other in Harrow Weald. It was established in 1999 by the merger of two tertiary colleges; in 2017 it legally merged with Uxbridge College, and in 2023 merged with Richmond upon Thames College, forming Harrow, Richmond & Uxbridge Colleges (HRUC).
Harrow College is (as of 2013) medium-sized and had over 2,400 full-time and 4,700 part-time learners. It also forms part of the London Borough of Harrow's Harrow Sixth Form Collegiate.
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History
The college can date back to the early 20th century; Harrow County School for Girls was founded in Lowlands Road near present-day Harrow town centre in 1914, while Harrow Weald County Grammar School was opened in Brookshill, Harrow Weald in 1933. Until the 1970s these were grammar schools before a re-organisation turned them into sixth form colleges called Lowlands and Harrow Weald respectively.
In 1987 the tertiary colleges Greenhill College and Weald College were established in their place when the borough of Harrow adopted a tertiary provision system. A third tertiary college called Elm Park College was also established, while the former Hatch End-based Harrow College for Further Education closed down to make way for these, and the Catholic St Dominic's Sixth Form College remained unaffected by the tertiary system. Greenhill and Weald colleges eventually merged on 1 August 1999, creating Harrow College.
On 1 August 2017, Harrow College merged with Uxbridge College to form Harrow College & Uxbridge College (HCUC).
On 4 January 2023, HCUC merged with Richmond upon Thames College to form Harrow, Richmond & Uxbridge Colleges (HRUC).
Location
Teaching takes place at the Harrow on the Hill campus on Lowlands Road and at the Harrow Weald campus in Harrow Weald as well as two smaller, dedicated construction-focused units; Whitefriars Centre and Harrow Skills Centre.
In 2015, the college opened two new buildings: The Enterprise Centre at the Harrow on the Hill campus and Spring House for supported learning at the Harrow Weald campus.
Harrow College has been awarded a Centre of Excellence for the Hearing Impaired, which is the only centre of its kind in North West London.
It holds the Pre School Learning Alliance kite mark.
Curriculum
Harrow College provides academic and vocational courses for young people and a range of professional and non-professional programmes for adult students.
The college is highly regarded for its ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) courses. The EFL programmes are accredited by the British Council.
The Learning Links programme has set a standard in the community for providing courses for students with learning disabilities and difficulties.
Alumni
The list includes former students of Greenhill College and Weald College.
Jon Foo, actor and martial artist
Shami Chakrabarti, former director of Liberty
Kevin Fong, medic and broadcaster
Tom Fletcher, guitarist in McFly
Richard Hounslow, British slalom canoeist
Vilma Jackson (performance artist and actor)
Farkhunda Zahra Naderi, Afghan former MP, politician and Women's Rights activist
Matt Lucas, comedian
Faye McClelland, British triathlete
Mark Ramprakash, English cricketer
Master Shortie, rapper
Paul Staines, political blogger under the name Guido Fawkes
Jordanne Whiley, Paralympian
Ricardo P. Lloyd, British actor
Harrow County Grammar School for Girls
Diane Abbott
Carole Jordan
Lucy Oldfield
Harrow Weald County Grammar School
Michael Annals, costume designer
Dudley Bright, Principal Trombone, London Symphony Orchestra
Spencer Campbell, television producer and director
Ken Follett, spy novel author
Robert Glenister, actor
Christopher Isham, theoretical physicist at Imperial College London, who investigates quantum gravity
Prof Roger Kain CBE, Montefiore Professor of Geography at the School of Advanced Study (SAS)
Ronald Lacey, actor, who played Harris in Porridge
Prof David Pearce (economist), Professor of Economics from 1983 to 2004 at UCL
Merlyn Rees, Home Secretary from 1976 to 1979 and Labour MP from 1962 to 1983 for Leeds South and from 1983 to 1992 for Morley and Leeds South (and later taught economics at the school for eleven years throughout the 1950s)
Michael Rosen, author
Prof Anthony Thirlwall, Professor of Applied Economics from 1976 to 2004 at the University of Kent, known for Thirlwall's Law
Nigel Waymouth, designerKing Ghazi of Iraq also graduated from it when he was studying while he was the crown prince
Former teachers
James N. Britton, taught English at Harrow Weald GS from 1933 to 1938
Harold Rosen (educationalist) (Harrow Weald Grammar School)