SOUTH Essex College held an official opening ceremony to welcome students, staff and employers to its new Basildon town centre campus today (Thursday, 21 October).

The event to celebrate the official opening of the college's Centre for Digital Technologies coincided with Association of Colleges 'Colleges Week.'

Mayor of Basildon, Cllr David Dadds, cut the ribbon to mark the occasion. Also in attendance were Simon Warnes, Director of Connect Partnerships at Sharp and Chris Travers, Area Director (Essex) at Morgan Sindall who both gave speeches at the event.

Guests were treated to afternoon tea and tours of the high-tech campus, viewing the outstanding facilities that will help equip students with the skills needed to enter the digital industries such as the green screen suite and Virtual Reality programmes.

Angela O'Donoghue, Principal and Chief Executive at South Essex College, said: "We have been looking forward to holding this event for such a long time. It's great to finally be able to invite the local community and industry connections on site. We've built something really special here, that will go on to educate the future tech workforce for many years to come."

The Centre for Digital Technologies houses state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for students on courses with a tech focus including IT networking, app development, games design and animation. The three-storey project has been built on the previous market site thanks to a partnership between Basildon Council, Homes England and South Essex College.

Areas of the building have been modelled on tech sector offices, giving that innovative 'Google' feel to a lot of the open plan spaces. Students will be able to experience working in this kind of modern environment, preparing them to enter the industry.

For more information about the digital courses on offer at the college's new campus in Basildon, visit www.southessex.ac.uk/new-state-of-the-art-campus-in-basildon