The college also has training centres in Haverhill, Thetford, Sudbury and Ipswich, with courses also being taught in towns and villages across Suffolk including Clare, Pakenham, Thurston and Stowmarket.

The West Suffolk College of Further Education had its roots in an "Evening Institute" established in 1925 in Bury St Edmunds.

In 1935, the Ministry of Education consolidated these classes under a single head, appointing Watterson as Principal of the Evening Institute, in addition to his full-time work at the County School.

[citation needed] In 1951, the Bury St Edmunds Technical Institute began offering Engineering, Building and vocational evening classes in the grounds of the Silver Jubilee School.

[citation needed] In the 1970s and 1980s, the college expanded; from 1970 to 1977, the Engineering, Construction and Motor Vehicle training centres were built.

[3] In 2006, the college was awarded Grade 1: Outstanding by Ofsted and in 2011, Dr Ann Williams, the then Principal, was appointed an OBE for services to Further Education in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

The following year the college received confirmation of a £7m government grant to help pay for an £8m energy, engineering and manufacturing teaching centre.

[9] The current Chair of Governors at the college and Eastern Education Group Trust, Elton D'Souza[10] is a National Leader of Governance.

[16] It has also been acknowledged as the first college in the country to facilitate the teaching of black history all year round[17] and has won prestigious industry accolades for outstanding and innovative careers leadership and practice.

In 2016, the Trust was given permission by the Department for Education to build a new sixth form, Abbeygate, in Bury St Edmunds, which has been completed as of 2023,[20] to cater for up to 1,700 pupils, offering more than 30 A-level courses to 16-19 year olds.

[26] Dr Nikos Savvas has a doctorate in High Energy Particle Physics from Manchester University and has held senior roles in the further education sector for a number of years.

He is a board member for various organisations including the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership's All Energy Industry Council,[27] the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership's Skills Advisory Panel for Norfolk and Suffolk[28] and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Trust (SENDAT).