Midlands Technical College is a public technical college with multiple locations in the Richland, Lexington, and Fairfield counties of South Carolina. The college is one of South Carolina's largest two-year college with approximately 16,000 students. It offers approximately one hundred associate degrees, diplomas and certificate programs of study and is the largest source of transfer students to the University of South Carolina-Columbia. History In 1947, the South Carolina Area Trade Schools (SCATS) Act established the South Carolina Area Trade School Columbia Campus to provide skilled and educated workers to meet the expanding labor needs of the community. In 1969, the name was changed to Columbia Technical Education Center (TEC) and it became part of the State Committee for Technical Education, which was responsible for guiding the technical programs in the state. The site of the Columbia Technical Education Center is now the Airport Campus of Midlands Technical College. Richland Technical Education Center (Richland TEC) was established in 1963 to address the need for specialized training for industrial growth, and the first students were enrolled in the fall of 1963. By 1969, the school's enrollment expanded to 1,200 students and Lexington County officials joined forces with Richland County to form the Richland-Lexington Counties Commission for Technical Education. With this partnership, the name of the school was changed to Midlands Technical Education Center (TEC). Approximately 15,500 students were enrolled in Midlands Technical Education Center between the years 1969-1974. Major programs of study were offered in engineering technologies, business and allied health. The site of the Midlands Technical Education Center is now the Beltline Campus of Midlands Technical College. Palmer College in Columbia, a private business college, joined with the State Tech Board in 1973. At that time, Palmer College annually enrolled 1,000 students in 16 associate degree and diploma programs. On March 21, 1973, the Columbia Technical Education Center, Midlands Technical Education Center and Palmer College in Columbia merged to form a single, multi-campus college. This new college operated as three separate entities governed by one local commission through June 1974. On July 1 of that year, the three separate institutions merged to form Midlands Technical College under the guidance of the Richland-Lexington Counties Commission for Technical Education. Campuses Midlands Technical College has six campuses: Airport Campus, located at 1260 Lexington Dr., West Columbia, SC, which is spread out on , consists of 15 buildings, including library facilities and an Academic Success