CROYDON COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN
Croydon School of Art was first established in 1868 and some twenty years later in 1888, the Pitlake Technical Institute, which later changed its name to Croydon Polytechnic, was founded. These two schools operated in and around Croydon and in 1932, the School of Art was taken over by the council to become Croydon College of Art. The Polytechnic was destroyed by fire during the Second World War and a plan to create a technical college, which would merge the Polytechnic and College of Art. Three years later, Croydon Corporation formally approved plans for a new college and in 1953 construction started at the college's current Fairfield site on the first of four stages. 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 Queen Elizabeth II in 1960. In November 2011, the college was given approval to use the title University Centre Croydon and in 2020, it was re-named Croydon University Centre. The degree courses are validated by Roehampton University.