Education and Training

Ashford has excellent and expanding education facilities, currently  home to 50 schools and three special schools. It has a higher than national average level of A* to C grade GCSE passes, during 2006 50% of pupils at year 11 gained one or more GCSEs.

There are five universities within one hours drive of Ashford, enrolling around 40,000 students and producing over 11,000 graduates each year.

Students progress to higher education at:

• Canterbury Christ Church University College
• University of Kent in Canterbury
• University of Greenwich
• Imperial College London Wye Campus 
• University College of Creative Arts  (sites at Maidstone, Rochester and Canterbury). 

Higher Education facilities within the town centre are set to improve too. The multi-million Ashford Learning Campus is expected to open in 2011, providing both vocational Further Education training and educational facilities for up to 14,000 full and part-time students. As part of South Kent College,  it will mean businesses will benefit from state-of-the-art, employer-led training opportunities.