Our Principal, John Morahan, comes with a long and distinguished academic career behind him. He has studied at Bradford University, Manchester University, London University (Goldsmith’s College, and King’s College), and is currently engaged in research at the University of Derby. He is a Chartered Psychologist, and has been elected as an Associate Fellow of The British Psychological Society. John also serves as an external validator for degree programmes at Glyndwr University in Wrexham.

He is known for his passionate commitment to lifelong learning, and as a champion of those students who have been let down by the education system and deserve a second chance. His academic career has seen him teaching at Barnsley College, and in Barnsley’s Community Education Service; Doncaster College, and the William Booth College in London. He has served as a visiting lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, and has taught on courses for the Open University, the University of Kent, and Portsmouth University. Following a successful teaching career he has held senior posts as Head of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Havering College of Further & Higher Education, and as Academic Director of University Centre Stratford in East London. Prior to his move to Havering he held a senior post in the ‘experimental’ Joint University Centre at Yeovil College, working in partnership with the universities of Exeter and Bournemouth. Over a number of years he has built a national reputation for his work in developing innovative degree programmes, having written over twenty new degrees personally and leading teams that have written well over one hundred programmes in recent years. He has also developed strong academic partnerships in Spain, India, and Sri Lanka. In between academic appointments John has worked as a practising psychologist in several fields, primarily alcohol and addiction services, learning difficulties, and challenging behaviour. He is also an ordained minister in the Free Church.

His passion for lifelong learning stems from his own experience – despite the glamorous record described above, John is quick to point out that his academic beginnings were not so promising. “I left school in South Yorkshire at fifteen, with no qualifications, and very few prospects”, he says, ”and eventually discovered that my life could be totally transformed by education. I was given a second chance, and it changed my life”.

NICHE is driven by John’s vision, based on the belief that education should be inspirational and transformational. It is his belief, and this institution's philosophy that individuals, families, and communities can be radically transformed through engagement with the range of educational opportunities offered in this college.

Take the second chance – it might just change your whole life!