New College Durham is now the largest provider of vocational and higher education in County Durham, achieving ‘outstanding’ status by Ofsted in June 2009.

The College’s academic performance and success rates in further education place the College in the top 10% of all colleges nationally. Both our student achievements and retention rates remain among the best in the country.
The Ofsted inspection concluded that the College was outstanding in every area. This included the College’s effectiveness of provision, capacity to improve, achievement and standards, leadership and management and the overall quality of provision. The College has worked hard to ensure that the vision to provide first class learning and training for individuals, business and the community is achieved, and the Ofsted report confirms the College’s success. In June 2010, Ofsted confirmed through Survey Inspection Arrangements that New College Durham is a provider that offers ‘Outstanding’ numeracy provision.
The College has also received recognition of its excellence and innovation, by being awarded the prestigious ‘Beacon College’ status by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) in March 2010.

The latest review of the College’s higher education provision by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) judged the academic standards of learning to be ‘commendable’, the highest rating available.