THE proposed merger between the Royal Forest of Dean College and Gloucestershire College, bringing together around 3,500 full time students, was given ministerial approval at the end of last week (December 16). It will go ahead on January 31, 2011.

After agreement was reached between both colleges and after public consultation, the last hurdle was approval by the Minister of State for Further Education, John Hayes MP (member for South Holland and the Deepings in Lincolnshire).

Ministerial approval now means the Royal Forest of Dean College will be dissolved on January 31, 2011 and will become Gloucestershire College, Royal Forest of Dean Campus.

Greg Smith, Gloucestershire College Principal said: "We are delighted to have reached the final stage of the merger process with notice of approval from the government, and to have secured the provision of Further Education in the Forest.

"Now that we have the seal of approval from the Government we can really start to move things forward ready for the end of January.

"This is the start of a new journey for Further Education provision in the Forest, and is of significant benefit to the citizens of the Forest.

"We are committed to raising all aspects of the quality of provision and using our shared experience to widen learning choice, increase progression opportunities and to improve employer engagement and work-based skills training."

Acting principal for the Forest college Paul Sparks said: "We are delighted that the merger has been approved by the minister today, which means that we remain on schedule to complete the merger process on the due date of January 31, 2011."

"We have been working very closely with our Gloucestershire College colleagues to achieve this very speedy merger, and we are looking forward to being part of a large college delivering high quality provision for our learners, employers and the community."

Geoff Russell, chief executive of the Skills Funding Agency said: "Today's merger marks the start of an exciting new era that I hope will boost skills and training opportunities in the Forest of Dean and the surrounding areas."

•The merger will bring together around 900 full-time further education students aged from 16 to 18 at the Royal Forest of Dean College and around 2,400 full-time students at the Gloucester campuses. There are many more part-time students.

The soon to be renamed Royal Forest of Dean College operates from two main sites – Five Acres Campus near Coleford and dedicated construction workshops and a business training centre at Vantage Point Business Village in Mitcheldean.

Gloucester College has two main sites in Cheltenham and Gloucester, with satellite sites including its Construction School in Kingsditch and IT centres in Cheltenham, Gloucester and at Tewkesbury Launchpad Centre.