the college had its roots in correspondence schooling from the 1930s onwards. from 1992 until 2015 the college offered courses in business, finance, marketing, accountancy, computing, tourism and hospitality and had teaching premises located near selfridges in mayfair. additionally, in 2004 it took over the former training facility of marks and spencer in manchester street, called hannah house which the college occupied with its sister school, british study centres school of english. the college was an approved learning partner of heriot-watt university since 1992 offering tuition for bachelors and master's degrees and from 2012 to 2015 it was designated as the london associate campus of heriot-watt university. hostel accommodation was provided for students in the bayswater and notting hill areas of central london.