BOLTON College's modern campus is proving to be the inspiration for a new further education college in Romania.

Members of FAST Charity are building a college in Brasov county, in the centre of the Eastern European country for people from the marginalised Roma communities.

Representatives of the organisation travelled to Bolton on a fact-finding mission to see what a vocational college looks like.

The charity runs projects that teach work skills and provide social care — as well as providing improvements in living conditions for needy families.

Highlights of the visit included a meet and greet with the college principal and a tour of the construction block.

The college has also established links with the charity — with students volunteering on projects.

Daniel Hristea, co-Founder of the charity said: “It couldn’t be more timely for us to have started this work with Bolton College, as we now have the opportunity to develop our own vocational centre in Sacele.

"The visit to the college will help us to envisage what our centre could be.

"We look forward to working with the college over many years in our joint ambition to improve opportunities for the people in our communities.”

Marie Gilluley, principal and chief executive of Bolton College added: “I’m very pleased to welcome our visitors from the FAST Charity Romania to Bolton College. "We are committed to supporting FAST Charity here at the college.

"The college learned of the plight of the Roma people in Romania through a joint project it undertook last year with Forrest Construction and led by Bolton at Home.

"More than 20 construction students from the college volunteered in Romania, working on the home building projects, sharing their skills with the Roma community and developing an understanding of life for the Roma people.

“They gained immensely from it and the experience prompted the college to adopt FAST as its international charity.

"Our students are now busy organising fundraising activities to support the building of the college and another volunteering project will take place in September.”