Record

CodeDS/UK/1313
NamePitman's College; 1870-; English secretarial and business training college
Variations of NamePitman's School
AliasLondon College of International Business Studies (LCIBS) since 1994
Dates1870-
BiographyHistory
LCIBS' origins date back to the business training college founded in London in 1870 by Sir Isaac Pitman, the Victorian educator. The college, which would become known as Pitman Central College, was originally located in Chancery Lane in Holborn, but moved to Southampton Row, in Bloomsbury, in 1898.

Pitman Central College remained on Southampton Row for almost 100 years and became known the world over as a leading provider of business training. The early emphasis at the college was on office practice but the college was also to become equally renowned for its general business studies provision, with courses in business administration, management, advertising, marketing and public relations all being introduced.

In the early 1990s, Pitman Central College was acquired by CRT plc, who came to the decision to focus only on the office skills training side of the Pitman business through a new network of ‘Pitman Training Centres’. At the same time, CRT also came to an agreement with Pitman Central College’s senior lecturers for a new college to be established in order to continue Pitman’s traditional college-based courses in business studies. Thus, the London College of International Business Studies (LCIBS) came into being.

Initially, LCIBS continued to operate from Pitman’s premises in Southampton Row, but it later moved into its own Georgian-period premises in nearby Southampton Place. Teaching staff and students from Pitman Central College all transferred to the new college and premises, where teaching began in September 1994.

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