College Profile

College History

The Hunter Community College provides learning and training opportunities to adults throughout the Hunter.

The College was started by the Department of Education as the Hamilton Evening Continuation School over 70 years ago. In the mid 1980s the Department of Education incorporated the Hamilton, Toronto, Plattsburg (Wallsend) & Maitland Evening Colleges into one organisation. It became well-known as the Hamilton Evening College, and was subsequently renamed the Hunter Regional Evening College. The large single College was then handed over to the community to run and control as a non-profit community organisation.
Since then outpost centres throughout the valley have been established to provide courses to service local communities, and the name of the College was changed in 1990 to the Hunter Community College to reflect its community ownership and the wider offering of courses both day and night. The College now provides classes at numerous venues throughout Newcastle and Lake Macquarie cities areas as well as in the Hunter Valley.
The College conducts night, day and weekend adult recreational and vocational education and training courses and is recognised as a Registered Training Provider by the NSW Vocational Education and Training Accreditation Board (VETAB). In April 2008, the College was reaccredited for a further 5 years.
Within the vocational area the College offers a range of short business and work related, computer and literacy courses aimed at both the individual and small business, although courses equally suit employees of larger organisations. In January 2008, the College launched Hunter Business Training, a new division to serves the needs of businesses and their employees.
The College receives its funds largely from student fees, contracts, tenders and a small recurrent grant from the NSW Department of Education and Training to support vocational education and training.
The primary objective of the College is the delivery of quality adult and community education and its vision being “To enrich lives through lifelong learning” and its mission being “to offer a range of courses which meet the needs of adult learners by providing a student focussed and responsive approach in a friendly and socially rewarding learning environment”.

Annual enrolments are now around 4,000 and each Course Program contains approximately 150 courses.
The College is governed by a board of governance, known as the College Council consisting of elected and appointed directors. The Council meets five times per year and is responsible for the strategic direction and educational framework of the college.