2. The Co-operative College
The Co-operative College was established in 1919 to meet the educational and training needs of the Co-operative movement. First, it was located in East Midlands, Leicestershire near Loughborough at Stanford Hall, now it is in Holyoake House, Hanover Street, Manchester (www.co-op.ac.uk). The Co-operative College is UK’s major provider of co-operative education, training and development. Its vision is to lead the world in co-operative learning and to promote the college as the centre of excellence in training, learning, consultancy and research for the co-operative and mutual sector. Its mission is to provide challenging and diverse opportunities that enable learners and their organizations to put co-operative values and principles into everyday practice and to provide adult learners with lifelong learning programs that emphasize co-operative values and principles.
The Co-operative College is experienced in delivering regional, local and residential adult and lifelong learning programs that emphasize co-operative values and principles. Strategic Objectives of the Co-operative College are:
– to meet the learning needs of diverse co-operative, mutual and social enterprises regionally, nationally and internationally;
– to promote and encourage the understanding of co-operative values and principles and co-operative learning within and beyond the co-operative mutual and social enterprise sector;
– to continuously improve learning and quality standards across the whole of the College curriculum;
– to develop e-learning and information and learning technology (ILT) provision;
– to transform the Rochdale Pioneers Museum and the National Co-operative Archive into accessible lifelong learning resources.
3. Learning Programs
The Co-operative College aims to meet the diverse training needs of the Co-operative sector, through lifelong learning programs for staff, managers and members of Co-operatives. The Co-operative College offers a wide range of workshops and qualifications designed to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to enable directors and members to become more effective in the roles. The Co-operative College offers nationally recognized qualifications; specialist courses for the funeral service; international programs; co-operative business programs (Specialist Short Courses; Funeral Training and Development; Staff Training; Continuing Professional Development).
The Co-operative College has a portfolio of national and international projects designed to raise awareness of and benefit the co-operative movement, projects that help the co-operative movement become better informed and equipped to meet the business and social challenges of the new millennium. The Co-operative College is working with schools to develop curriculum resources designed to change the perception of co-operation among students and educationalists. The College is involved in new initiatives supporting young people in co-operatives, facilitating young co-operators’ participation in youth seminars arranged by the International Co-operative Alliance. The College is working with partners across the UK .
The Co-operative College is leading in learning and research for co-operatives. The Co-operative Union (the Co-operativesUK) and the Co-operative College provide the opportunity to build up a truly national Archive of the co-operative movement to provide students and scholars with access to a valuable resource in a single center. The Rochdale Pioneers Museum exists to preserve the original store of the Rochdale Pioneers and to generate an understanding of the ideals and principles of the co-operative movement.