ABSTRACT
The Great Exhibition of 1851 gave a fresh impetus to technical education, revealing the enormous industrial progress taking place in Europe. A major shift of emphasis was introduced by the 1944 Education Act, which imposed a statutory duty on Local Education Authorities (LEAs) "to secure the provision for their area of adequate facilities for further education, that is to say, full-time and part-time education for persons over compulsory school age'. Most technical colleges have changed their name to further education colleges to reflect the breadth and diversity of their education and training programmes in the modern business world. The original tertiary college concept was to bring all 16+ courses in a specific geographical area together in one institution, instead of presenting them as competing alternatives in separate establishments. The independent sector has established certain areas of the curriculum where it is the main provider.
