WHEN Bill Fearon looks out of his office window does he see a gleaming campus of busy students?

Not quite; at the moment he’s looking down on a muddy building site filled with construction workers, and the fantastic new West Kent College in Brook Street, Tonbridge, seems a long way from taking shape.

If that wasn’t enough the college principal has more construction work on his mind, having recently agreed to merge his college with the debt-ridden South Kent College in Ashford.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the distance, the world’s financial markets are crashing. And its raining.

So why does he seem so relaxed, positive and calm?

Perhaps it’s because – more like a business tycoon than a someone in a top seat of learning – he’s blind to the possibility of failure.

For Mr Fearon, who began learning about the tough face of business working for his father’s small wholesale company as a boy in Essex, there’s never going to be a better time to expand than the present.

Explaining his business plans he certainly sounds confident.

“In the short term we have to establish the newly merged college on a sound financial footing,” he says.

“At the moment South Kent College have a significant deficit but there are many ways we can tackle that. One of the ways is encouraging more students – that generates income.

“We’re able to provide finance and resources to make a stronger business.

“We’ve got a lot of expertise and facilities; there’s a lot of talent at South and West Kent – we’re creating something that’s greater than the sum of its parts.”

If they manage to pull it off and convince the government to back the merger, he believes Kent will be at the forefront of skills training.

He said: “There are seven colleges in Kent and they’re all having major building programmes; that will create a formidable partnership.

“It’s not size for the sake of size that we’re looking for; we’re looking to improve the skills and qualifications of the people. It will create a formidable partnership in skills training.

“We have to operate like other businesses; you sink or swim on your success.

“As a manager you have to operate like anyone in the commercial world while not losing site of the core business to provide learning.”

And that’s something he’s determined to do, moulding his college around the business needs and educational demands of Kent’s towns

“You have to be accepted in the local community” he said.

“The learners won’t come unless they’re learning something that’s helpful in their life and their career. The motivation is the learner’s experience. There’s no point in building a brand new campus and offering a service nobody wants.”

Even the impending gloom of global financial melt-down seems to be a positive factor.

He said: “People are being made redundant in the financial services so they can come to the new college and retrain and upskill.

“It’s early days to assess how much of an impact that’s happening but numbers are up on last year.

“All we’ve got to do now is convince the government that a merger is the best solution in the long term.”

For information on studying at West Kent College call 01732 358101.