Adult College Hailed as National 'Beacon'

1.17.35pm GMT Fri 27th Feb 2004

Vincent Cable MP for Twickenham

Richmond Adult College was today (Monday) awarded 'Beacon' status - one of 13 colleges in Britain to be given this honour - as a mark of its achievements. The certificate was awarded to the college principal, Christina Conroy, at a ceremony attended by group of students and MP Vincent Cable, by the minister for further and higher education Alan Johnson.

Vincent Cable said: "The college is a real local success story. It is expected to enroll 30,000 students this year, up from 24,000 five years ago, and the quality of post-school education is outstanding".

He added that "there is a major problem in adult education funding in that government support is less generous than for sixth form education. I have spoken on this in parliament and the point has been accepted by ministers in principle, but the changes have been slow".