| Our Role |
| The Eastern Suburbs Community College is a non-profit organisation established in 1952. Each year more than 17,000 students attend one or more of the College's impressive range of quality courses. The College works co-operatively with local councils, schools and neighbourhood facilities to organise, promote and offer lifelong learning in over 30 venues in Sydney's East. |
| Each term the College introduces new subjects and pursuits to enhance the vocational, artistic, creative and personal aspirations of people from all walks of life. We cater for the educational needs of small business, parents, job seekers and busy city dwellers. The College also develops programs for adults with special needs in order to enrich their lives through learning. |
| The College celebrates diversity, promotes inclusion and embraces participations. Few enterprises can be found that offer as wide a range of opportunities to learn, at as affordable a price. |
| Our Students |
| Our students come from diverse backgrounds and range from school leaving age to senior citizens. Our typical student is in her late 20s, tertiary educated, well travelled and predisposed towards education. |
| Most of our students are internet users, maintain an interest in local affairs and reside in the Eastern Suburbs or City fringe. Our largest centres of activity are in the Bondi, Randwick, Coogee, Kensington and Alexandria areas. |
| Our students show a notable interest in technological change, the environment, personal health, parenting, community, career, investment and relationships. They are also defined by their attraction to personal achievement. |
| Our Courses |
| The College occupies a position of distinction in short course development. Our flexibility, our responsiveness to change and our regard for innovation enables us to recognise emerging needs and tailor new programs accordingly. |
| Currently we categorise our courses within the following clusters: Arts, Business and Computing, Health and Fitness, Humanities and Science, Language and Communication and Lifestyle. |
| Our Students are attracted to our courses for many reasons; to gain practical skills, to broaden their mind, to gain fluency in English or another language, to meet new challenges or to share the rewards of adult education with other learners. We endeavour to provide a fulfilling experience for all of them. |
| Our Coverage |
| The College's catchment area embraces the whole of Sydney's East, the City of Sydney and the revitalised South Sydney precinct, as illustrated by the Locations Map, which also shows our various education venues. |
| We contact and inform our students, potential students and the wider community through our web site, the distribution of our free course guide, email, text messaging and targeted advertising. |
| Our web site attracts over 90,000 unique visitors each year and 70% of our students enrol in our courses on line through our web site. |
| Every quarter we distribute 165,000 of our course guides through the mail, as inserts in local and metropolitan newspapers and at local distribution points. Email and text messages promoting our courses are sent to over 10,000 subscribers every quarter. |
| We selectively advertise in magazines and newspapers prior to the commencement of each quarterly term, directing people to our web site where they can review our programs and enrol on line. |
| Our Staff |
| Our teachers are experienced, committed and qualified professionals, unified by their love of adult learning. We see the process of adult education as a collaboration between teacher and student. Our teachers endeavour to create conditions in which education flourishes. |
| Our Values |
| We believe in freedom of intellectual thought and enquiry and in the open exchange of ideas and evidence. We recognise the need to embrace change and explore and appraise new possibilities. The principles of tolerance, fairness, equity and responsibility underpin all our activities and we seek to foster excellence in both our endeavours and those of our students. |
