Harlow College - Harlow

parvez B.

New Recruit at Harlow College in IT.

Amazing experience from the interview stage. Big team and amazing people working here. It is pretty grand and provides a lot of opportunities for young people in further education. Great atmosphere and mostly friendly people working, apart from few who likes to make 2 seconds judgement on appearance and believes smile is too expensive to give a colleague😂.

Louis and Sarah from the HR had been very helpful throughout the recruitment process and always responded immediately to any queries. Thanks for the great work ladies. 💪🙌

Isla G.

Title: Overpriced Disappointment

I recently purchased a Dr Pepper at Harlow College, and I was shocked by the overcharge. The price was significantly higher than expected, especially for a drink that's usually affordable. Not only did I feel cheated, but the experience was further marred by poor customer service. I was accused of buying a cookie with my Dr Pepper which was totally false but no refund for the charge was obtained. I don’t even like cookies.

The staff seemed indifferent to the pricing issue, and when I raised my concerns, I was met with a lack of understanding. It's disappointing to see such a beloved brand associated with inflated prices and unsatisfactory service. I expected more from both the product and the experience.

I won't be returning for a while, and I hope they reconsider their pricing strategy.

Picture below shows my Dr Pepper and No cookie insight.

Chris B.

1 star given as the college had gone one thing right - a full class refund of 16 students after total disappointment.
Level 4 Counselling Harlow College Review.
Our entire class failed their first exam for the course Level 4 counselling provided by AIM, at points it was strongly implied by the college that the students were to blame for the total failure. The college did and do not like to provide any form of written or recorded medium to back themselves up, but rather verbally telling us one thing, then holding us to account because of failings they told us were communicated clearly. An official investigation was launched by AIM the exam board who also notified Ofsted and Ofquol. Several formal complaints were made against named lecturers who are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, however unlike a chocolate tea pot are so insulated in the very tight knit community that they remain free to be held to account. The entire classed received a full refund with the college promising to commit to providing and ending to the course, yet after the summer holidays they only just confirmed 2 days before the workshops were starting and happening, and now we're being told the workshops are mandatory as part of the course which formally ended last year. During the complaints process we were even told what to write as to the reason of wanting a refund and to return to the person who many of us had made the complaint about.
It may come as no surprise that the formal complaint wasn't truly understood and the college reviewing themselves found no real issue with their behaviour. This didn't really resonate with any of us students as the lecturer mysteriously disappeared just before our exam resit with the college lying over the reasons, having later found out from the lecturer.
Overall the only thing the college has successfully taught me is to never use them again, and successfully putting me off the vocational change.

Corey

After beginning my internship at Harlow-College, I've found the interview process to have been incredibly smooth and professional. I was given plenty of opportunity to meet the staff that I would be working with and my first day was brilliant. I was also a student at the college for 2 years prior, and I can say that the staff at the college do everything they can to help where they can, and I have always found the staff to be professional and dedicated to their roles. I look forward to the next few years at the college!

Beatrice S.

I personally went to this college to ask if there is a possibility to get a placement on my DET level 5 course. I was invited to an office on the ground floor on the right where I left my CV and enrollment letter for the course. The lady there emailed to the HR department and attached my documents. She told me that I would receive an answer in a few days. It's been almost two months and they haven't even been able to email me back. I consider it disrespectful, especially since I personally went to this college!

oliver L.

from 2018 to 2022 I was a student in the supported studies department and without question it was one of the worst experiences of my academic career, not only was the course itself nothing short of an unqualified disaster but some of the staff where completely unfit to work with students and furthermore a good portion of them seemed to have no official qualifications whatsoever (despite the fact that other areas of education have this as a mandatory requirement!). this probably goes some way of explaining why the standard of behaviour was so terrible and in all of the years I was there I never saw a problem resolved successfully in fact it was quite normal to see an offender return to class after doing what would've been an excludable offense in my old school!, as ever the staff merely claimed that they wanted to give everyone a chance despite the fact that many people complained about this lack of discipline on more then one occasion!. although it had been billed as a course for those who had additional support needs the structure of the lessons can only really be described as "babyish", when we weren't being lectured on how to look after ourselves in a demeaning tone we where forced to work in the town park in all weathers whilst being either criticised for not wanting to be there or daring to ask for a short break after being exhausted by the heavy work load!. unlike many of the other courses in the college there was never really any interaction with the mainstream students and this is perhaps one of the courses' main flaws, the students who did take an interest where the health and social students and as they sometimes did work experience in the department it felt like they where using us as guinea pigs for what they would encounter in their real world jobs!. intially I tried to make the most of what I could out of the more meaningful sessions but after being in an awful "links to work" group I decided that enough was enough and with no hint of regret I left college in the summer of 2022 deciding to forget that this difficult period ever happened, I don't doubt that the other courses are particularly good but unless you find mainstream really difficult I wouldn't recommended supported studies even if someone paid me!

Joshua M.

Excellent service and really helpful when my card isn't working when I have had money put on it.

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The branch that I briefly attended was under extremely poor management. I felt that staff members were unfriendly and rude, and felt somewhat intimidated and uncomfortable in the college environment. The staff didn't seem to know what they were doing and couldn't answer basic questions. They were unclear of the timetable which I felt showed a lack of good management. One of the staff members I spoke to about an honest mistake was intimidating and seemed to be using their position to be rude. I am not at all impressed and am clearly not the only person who has had a bad experience. Due to the issues mentioned and other circumstances, I had to leave the college to pursue another course. I wrote a pleasant e-mail to inform the staff that I was not returning, and still to this day have not received a reply. I know many others who have had similar problems with Harlow college. I understand that perhaps I just had a bad experience and accept that it is probably a great place, but I am not at all impressed.