PERSHORE Group of Colleges has become only the second college nationwide to receive a prestigious accolade.
The college is also the first college in Herefordshire and Worcestershire to be named a Centre of Vocational Excellence.
The college has been given the accolade by the Learning and Skills Council for its horticultural courses.
Skills
The CoVE programme was set up to counter the lack of people with the craft and technical skills to meet the needs of industry and economy.
As a prospective CoVE, Pershore Group of Colleges underwent a rigorous assessment process to make sure it was meeting the educational needs of the region.
The institution spent a year being assessed before it was granted full CoVE status at a presentation ceremony earlier this week.
The award also means the college will be given £300,000 which will be used to create a building for teaching hard landscaping as well as buying equipment from water recycling to computer aided garden design.
Dave Feaver, head of horticulture, said the award was a significant boost for the college.
"If people are choosing a course to go on to they will go for the centres of excellence rather than anywhere else, because they will have the better facilities," he said.
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