Pearson College London is a British private academic degree provider based in London owned by Pearson plc. It was founded in 2012, and is the only FTSE 100 company in the UK to design and deliver degrees. The institution is officially separated into two subdivisions - Pearson Business School, which offers business-related degrees and degree apprenticeships, and Escape Studios, a visual effects academy Pearson plc acquired in 2013 which offers degrees and short courses in the creative arts ranging from VFX to Game Art and Animation.
History
The creation of Pearson College London was announced in July 2011. Pearson College London launched its first degree programme in September 2012. In August 2013 it was announced that Pearson College London would begin offering business degrees validated by Ashridge Business School, whilst continuing with its partnership with Royal Holloway. In October 2013 Pearson College London acquired Escape Studios, Europe's leading VFX academy. Escape Studios now also offers courses in VFX, Games and Animation at undergraduate, postgraduate and short course levels. All degrees are currently awarded by a third party institute, most notably Business degrees are awarded by the University of Kent, but the college is in the process of getting their own degree awarding power from the relevant Government body. In the past couple of years the size of the college has rapidly increased and currently it has approximately 1300 student. The college directly employs a minor amount of academic staff, most lecturers are on a short term contract only working a couple of days a week in the rest of their time they usually work in the field of their expertise. This allows them to bring their experience into the classroom and work on real life case studies. Due to the lack of full time academics, the college very rarely publishes academic papers.
Location
Students of Pearson College London primarily study at Pearson's offices in London at 190 High Holborn. The first three floors is solely occupied by the University, and have been transformed to cater for their needs. Due to the limited space in the building, there is no library, but student are offered cards for the Central Library. The size of the College is still relatively small, but with further increase in the number of student, more floors of the Person office building are likely to be re-purposed.
Admissions
Entry requirements vary depending upon the chosen course and level of study. Applicants are also required to attend a workshop day including an interview and an aptitude test. Courses usually cost £9000, but by attending the workshop, there is a £3000 fee waiver awarded to most students. Most student pay their fees, by applying for a student finance, but for private colleges, such as Person College, the maximum available finance is capped at £6000. The college does not have its own accommodation, student normally are privately renting or staying in privately owned students halls most noticeably Tunfell House and Felda House near Wembley Park.
Courses
Pearson College London offers undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and a range of short courses. The courses cover Accounting, Business, Enterprise, Law, Computer Animation, Video Games and Visual Effects. Courses can be studied full-time or part-time, depending on which course is chosen. The degree programmes are validated by the University of Kent. All of the degrees are designed, developed and delivered with industry partners including Unilever, Direct Line Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment, WPP plc, Lotus F1, BT Group, Lloyd's of London, Savills and L'Oreal. Industry partners within VFX, Games and Animation include Framestore, The Mill, Moving Picture Company, BlueBolt, Electric Theatre, Milk and Jellyfish Pictures. Person College also offers a wide variety of degree apprenticeships, where student work four days a week at one of the industry partners, then attend university one day a week. This schemes are usually free, and student get a wage from the company they work for. The college has September and January intakes, but this can vary; full-time degree courses usually last 3 years, but student with exceptional academic standards are offered to take a 2 year accelerated course.
