Lowestoft College

East Coast College is a Further Education college which has campuses in Lowestoft, Suffolk and Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Following a six month pilot area review in 2014, it was proposed that the merger of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Colleges would result in improved education and training provision locally. The colleges have now formed a Federation as East Coast College. The colleges will formally merge in the Summer of 2017 ready for the new academic year. East Coast College is a partner college of the University Of Suffolk and the Lowestoft campus boasts specialist maritime and offshore training opportunities.HistoryRecords show that classes in science, navigation and astronomy were administered by the Town Council of Lowestoft in the late 19th century. The first Technical Institute was built in 1898 on a site in Clapham Road at a cost of £7,500. The site grew steadily for the next 40 years, developing a number of technical specialisms, together with courses in navigation and art. The Institute was damaged during enemy air action in 1940 and then completely destroyed in a second air attack in 1941. Accommodation was soon found for the provision of full-time instruction in Navigation at St John's Church schoolroom until the war's end. A School of Cookery was established during the war years and achieved great success.Following the war, the volume of work reduced through the withdrawal of naval personnel, but also through a lack of accommodation. The Institute had become seven disparate hired centres. Moreover, development, possible in other areas, had been difficult within Lowestoft due its fortress nature in the war years where the focus had been very much on the training of naval personnel. Day release classes associated with industry were unknown.