Bridgwater and Taunton College is a further education college based in the heart of Somerset, England, with main centres in Bridgwater, Taunton and Cannington. It educates approximately 3000 students between the ages of 16–18 in academic and vocational programmes in addition to several thousand part-time or mature students. The college was founded in 1973, although the history of its predecessor institutions dates to 1891. After a merger with Cannington College in September 2004, the college expanded its curriculum of full-time and part-time courses for school leavers, adults, university level students, the business community and students from overseas. In 2016, Bridgwater College merged with Somerset College to become Bridgwater & Taunton College and launched University Centre Somerset. The college offers courses from entry level through higher education. In addition to A-Levels and BTEC qualifications, the college offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. The college has links with the University of Plymouth by way of the University of Plymouth Colleges network, Bournemouth University, Oxford Brookes University and is part of the Wessex Partnership, in association with Bath Spa University. In 2012 the college became the sponsor of a Multi Academy Trust named Bridgwater College Trust. The college aims to support the development of schools within the Trust. History Bridgwater College was founded in its present form in 1973. The college was created by the reconstitution of its predecessor, the Bridgwater Technical College, to provide Bridgwater with a sixth-form and further education college. The college has occupied buildings at its present site in Bath Road since 1978. Bridgwater Technical College Through the Technical College the roots of tertiary education in Bridgwater can be traced to the establishment of the Bridgwater School of Art in George Street in 1860. A second art school was established in 1888 in Queen Street. This became the Bridgwater Art and Technical School after its relocation to Lonsdale House in Blake Street in 1891. The school, which had been renamed as the Art and Technical Institute since at least 1931, was renamed again in 1958 when it became the Bridgwater Technical College. During the following two years, the college expanded with the acquisition of premises in Mount Street, Queen Street and new buildings in Broadway, where it continued until the college acquired its current name in 1973. Further buildings in Park Road were occupied from 1975, but by 1988 most of the college's departments were located at its buildings