The College was established in 2003 to meet the demand for quality education, offer affordable fees and to make world-class UK university degrees more accessible via HND Courses awarded by Pearson Edexcel to UK, EU and international students. To satisfy this demand, the College seeks to prepare students for effective and profitable roles in their choice of careers and to offer a cultural experience which will aid them in taking their place as productive members of society at minimum cost but with no compromise of quality. Indeed, the College prides itself on providing maximum support to ensure that all students reach their full potential.

The curriculum offers courses that are selected from our awarding organisation (Pearson) to prepare students to cope with changing employment opportunities and to present both theoretical and practical approaches to the diverse needs of the ever changing global economy. In support of these goals, the College has a highly qualified and experienced teaching faculty recruited from a wide range of appropriate academic disciplines and from the professional community, on the basis of their knowledge, teaching skills and practical experience.

As an illustration of the quality of ICON provision, a number of universities have entered into agreements with the College allowing the latter to deliver Level 6 and Level 7 qualifications on their behalf (or to guarantee Level 6 entry to students completing Level 5 Courses at the College). Examples include: from 2004 to 2010 the College had a Cooperation Agreement with London Southbank University (LSBU). This agreement provided students, who successfully completed their Higher National Diploma at the College, with a guaranteed place in the final year of the relevant honours degree at LSBU (subject to grades) In the academic year 2007/08 the College delivered a Level 7 MSc in Mobile Commerce in conjunction with LSBU (students being jointly taught at ICON College and LSBU) In addition, from the academic year 2004/05 until the academic year 2010/1, the College delivered a full- time LLB (Honours) Supported Open Learning programme, with the degree being awarded by Northumbria University. In the academic year 2011/12, the College delivered a Level 6 top-up BA (Honours) Management and Business Administration in conjunction with Management Development Partnership (degree awarded by Manchester Metropolitan University) Building on the success of expansion, in the academic year 2012/13 the College offered two Level 6 top-up courses [BSc (Honours) Business Management and a BSc (Honours) Tourism and Hospitality Management. Both of these courses were run in conjunction with the Management Development Partnership (degree awarded by the University of the West of England)]. In relation to the LLB degree and the top-up programmes, assessment and marking were administered by the awarding university and teaching provided by ICON College. The College has also delivered Pearson BTEC level 7 Professional Diploma in Management (Advanced Professional Diploma in Management Studies-APDMS & Extended Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership-EDSML) programme from 2005 to 2011.

Since 2003 the College has been subject to external regulation from a range of stakeholders, including the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) and the College awarding organisation Pearson. The College has consistently received reports commenting favourably on the quality of provision, the high standards of teaching, and the strong support services in place to enhance the student learning experience.

ICON College has been reviewed twice by the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency), first in June 2012 and again in June 2013. The second QAA visit was warranted due to the exceptionally high growth rate of student enrolment in February and May terms of this year. In both reviews QAA expressed confidence in the college management of Academic Standards, Quality of Teaching and Learning opportunities and reliance on the accuracy of information. The College received a commendable outcome from the QAA Annual Monitoring visit in June 2014. The College has also been reviewed by the QAA Higher Education Review (Alternative Providers) in July 2017 and Partial Review in July 2018 with positive outcomes.

Students satisfaction levels across all departments has been rated on average at 90% based on Unistat (consists of HESA, DLHE and NSS)

Based on the DLHE survey for 2016/17: 52% of students progressed to full-time top up degree programmes with 24% undertaking part-time.

The College is committed to delivering academic quality and excellent student learning opportunities as in line with the targets set by the UK Quality Code.