In 1832, the Bradford Mechanics Institute was founded. In 1863, the institute had grown to accommodate full-time staff and had its own School of Industrial Design and Art. In 1872 the Bradford MP
William Edward Forster opened new buildings in Bridge Street. On 23 June 1882, the then Prince and Princess of Wales (later
King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra) came to open the new School. They were given a very warm welcome: "From
Saltaire Station to the Technical School, a distance of four miles, was one continuous avenue of Venetian masts, streamers, and many coloured banners, while at appropriate points triumphal arches of great magnificence were erected." In 1982, the institution was named Bradford and Ilkley Community College, after a merger with
Ilkley College, giving the combined college a small satellite campus in the nearby town of
Ilkley, north-east of Bradford. This was closed in 1999 and soon after the institution became Bradford College. In 2002, a merger between the college and the
University of Bradford was proposed; this was pursued until the summer of 2003, when the two institutions issued a joint statement calling off the merger. Beginning in 2006 the college underwent a re-brand and unveiled its current logo. A community learning centre, named The Three Valleys Centre, was opened in nearby
Keighley in 2007 which hosts a hairdressing and beauty salon (also operating on a commercial basis), as well as I.T and a range of language courses. As part of the college's 175-year celebration, it published a list of 175 famous alumni of the college. This list includes ex-students such as
Edward Appleton,
Tasmin Archer,
David Berglas,
Alex Corina,
Bob Hardy,
David Hockney and
Joyce Gould. Trinity Green, which houses a new sports centre and teaching facilities for construction and engineering students, opened in September 2008, housed in a new purpose-built building on the site of MacMillan Halls of Residence which were demolished in 2007. A second phase of building replaced the Westbrook and Randall Well buildings with a more modern structure. Government funding was put on hold for this project in March 2009 and was not expected to be available again until 2011. The new building, named the David Hockney Building after one its most famous alumni, opened in September 2014 after two years of construction. A new Advanced Technology Centre was scheduled to open in September 2015 on a nearby former car park. The College received the go-ahead by the
Skills Funding Agency for a £50 million building. The project is the second phase of the College's Accommodation Strategy started with the opening of the Trinity Green Campus: Bradford College's Appleton Building was named after the Bradford scientist
Edward Victor Appleton, and the College's Lister Building was named after
Samuel Lister. ==Quality assurance==