Crawley College was formed in 2017 after a merger between Central Sussex College with Chichester College. Central Sussex College was formed in August 2005 from a merger of Crawley College and Haywards Heath College.
Crawley College
Crawley College of Further Education was opened in 1958 by West Sussex County Council at the campus in Crawley town centre. The college offers many technical courses, particularly in engineering fields, and was later known as Crawley College of Technology from 1977 until 1989.
Central Sussex College had five campuses across the county, offering a variety of services at each, and a commercial training centre in Horsham, Horsham Training Centre.
The Crawley campus at College Road, Crawley, offered a variety of technical and professional courses, including engineering, hair and beauty services, food, information technology and construction. It was the largest of the campuses as well as being the centre through which undergraduate courses are undertaken in partnership with the University of Chichester and the University of Sussex. Crawley College's College Road campus is the tallest building in Crawley at 11 storeys.
The Haywards Heath campus at Harlands Road in the west of the town, north of Dolphin Leisure Centre. It offered mainly post-compulsory courses such as Advanced level courses and BTECs. The campus attracted mainly students in the 16-18 age bracket.
There were two campuses in East Grinstead at Queensmere House in the town centre offering many adult education and IT-based courses, as well as a beauty salon, and at the Birches Industrial Estate where there was a vocational centre working in partnership with the local secondary schools.
Horsham Training Centre in Hurst Road, Horsham, was a professional training centre for adults offering one day and short courses including IT, leadership and management, health and safety and business skills.
Central Sussex College has closed two of their campuses due to a £25 million debt. The East Grinstead campus closed in the summer of 2016 and the Haywards Heath campus closed in the summer of 2017. There had also been discussions about selling of one of the rear car parks in the Crawley campus in order to pay off some of the debt. In 2017 it was revealed that Central Sussex College was looking at merging with Chichester College; the idea was welcomed by both colleges. In an interview with S. Wright and S. Legrave they said "We believe that a merger between our colleges will create opportunities around financial sustainability and ensure a diverse and employer led curriculum to meet local business and community needs...We remain committed to ensuring quality teaching and learning and believe that collaboration provides the opportunity to grow income, share costs and work in broader geographical areas." during the summer of 2017 the merger took place, Central Sussex College, in Crawley was renamed "Crawley College", the same name it had when it was during it last merger in 2005.
Enterprise
The college has trainee hairdressing, beauty salons, and a restaurant open to the public. These allow students to train with real customers. Intuition is the brand name for the college's trainee hairdressing and beauty salons at Crawley
