Catalogue description Board of Education and successors: Technical Branch and Further Education Branch: Adult Education Residential College, Files

The earliest residential colleges were established by voluntary bodies to provide a one year course of liberal adult education and were maintained by funds derived from private sources. The first such college was Ruskin College (Oxford), founded in 1899 to promote higher education among working men and women.

Following representations by Ruskin College, the Regulations for Certain Residential Colleges drafted in 1914, provided for direct grants to the colleges by the Board of Education. The outbreak of the First World War brought the activities of the colleges to a halt and it was not until 1920 that the regulations came into active use; they continued in force until superseded by the Board of Education (Adult Education) Regulations of 1924. Provision for adult education was subsequently embodied in the Further Education Grant Regulations, 1946.

Following the 1946 regulations, several Local Education Authorities opened residential colleges for adult education for which they provided grant-aid. These colleges provided short courses of a few days to a few weeks duration in a wide range of subjects, liberal studies for the general public and specialised courses for industry and some professions. The students were usually from the area covered by the Local Education Authority.