Choosing the right college for you is a huge decision – one of the biggest you’ll make. So you need to get it right. Whether you’re ready to move on from school to a more adult learning environment as a stepping stone to either employment or university, or you want to come back into education to acquire the skills you need to further your career, Croydon College is here to help get you to where you want to be in life. Croydon College can trace its history back to 1868 when Croydon School of Art was first established. Twenty years later, in 1888, the Pitlake Technical Institute (which later changed its name to Croydon Polytechnic) was founded. These two institutions continued to educate separately in and around Croydon until the Polytechnic was destroyed by fire during the Second World War, prompting plans to combine them on a new site in Fairfield, right at the heart of Croydon. The new Croydon Technical College (later known as Croydon College of Design and Technology) opened its doors for the first time in 1955 and was finally completed and formally opened by the Queen in 1960.