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These new facilities including improved access, exits and a lift ensure that students with disabilities can now enjoy any of the magnificent glassmaking facilities available anywhere in the building.

The International Glass Centre is housed in a splendid listed Victorian building on the corner of Moor Street and Bell Street in Brierley Hill and started life as a Technical Institute and library 1904.

In the 1960's, Dudley College in co-operation with the local crystal industry set up a superbly equipped centre to train apprentices in glass blowing and decorating skills.

Now largely refurbished and with additional equipment, this centre of excellence caters for a wide range of students from all parts of the world. It has gained a reputation for being the only centre of its kind offering a hands on practical approach whilst still retaining a design input and versatility to suit enthusiasts, studio crafts persons and graduates in glass.

The teaching facilities and provided by the International Glass Centre are unrivalled amongst the few remaining glass colleges and universities in the UK and Europe.

The IGC is a beacon of glass education. The centre has trained students ranging from total beginners to professional artists. Their comments refer to the quality of their experience, the high technical skill provided and the warmth and friendliness of the staff.

Building extensions at the back of the building have meant the lampworking room has been re-equipped and extended. Each bench is equipped with a gas torch to melt the glass rod, a range of tools for shaping the glass and a small annealing oven.

Lampworked glass (sometimes also called flameworked glass) is one of the most dynamic branches of the studio glass movement. Simply defined lampworking is the craft of shaping glass in a torch flame. Lampworkers use a propane oxygen torch flame to melt glass rods and tubes.

Students will learn about equipment, safe working practices, studio set up and how to make beads, glass jewellery and simple glass figures and animals.

The International Glass Centre attracts students from all over the world. One student Heather Parson age 21 from Spain said, "I found out about the College from their website and came over last year with my Mother to see the facilities. We were both so impressed with the facilities and the range of glass making courses I am now on the full-time OCNWM Glass Techniques and Technology course."

Heather is a self taught glass artist who has trained in her Mothers small studio in Cartegena on the Costa Calida coast

Other courses on offer include the one-year full-time course Glass Techniques and Technology which provides practical teaching of hot glass blowing, lamp working, kiln working, cold glass decoration and stained glass assembly. Design and glass technology is also taught and underpins the practical sessions.

Additional new developments for the Centre includes, industry specific commercial courses offering NVQ's in double-glazing fabrication and installation are also offered. These new glass qualifications are achieved through on site training and assessment. The government has recently announced that achievement of such qualifications will be the only way in which workers will be able to gain access to building sites as the NVQ is one way to obtain a CSCS card (Construction Skills Certification Scheme)