The site of the current St Albans Campus in Smallford, including the historic Mansion House, was purchased by Hertfordshire County Council in 1920.

The site opened a year later as the Hertfordshire County Council Agricultural Institute to provide full and part-time courses for home and overseas students.

The Museum of English Rural Life has a collection of dairying equipment for processing milk and making cheese used at the college, plus account books covering the 1930s to 1960s.

The college offers a wide range of BTEC courses covering different sector subject areas including art, beauty, business, construction, equine studies, engineering, health and social care, hospitality and catering, public services, IT, agriculture, media, performing arts, science, maths and sport.

The college has 14 to 19 and 16 to 19-year-old consortium arrangements with local secondary schools in Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and St Albans.

The college is well respected with regards to its land-based provision, these include horticulture, greenkeeping, equine studies and animal management.

Oaklands also provides a wide range of part-time courses as part of its adult community learning programme.

[9] Oaklands College also offers tertiary qualifications such as foundation degrees, HNDs and HNCs, which are run in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire.

[12] In September 2023, the college launched three new T-Level courses: Management and Administration, Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing, and Education and Childcare.

[18] A cordoned-off area of derelict greenhouses was demolished in 2018 to make way for the new student residential block, for which construction started later that year.