A head teacher used to educating pupils in Africa and the Far East has taken the top job at a city centre college.

Rachel Borland has been appointed principal of Abbey College following a 30-year career teaching in Hong Kong, the Middle East and Africa.

Her last posting was at an international boarding school in Nigeria, where she held the position of principal and CEO.

Mrs Borland has now taken over as head of Abbey College in St Paul’s Square, where half of the intake of students are from overseas.

Despite her experience with international students, she said it was her mission to raise the school’s profile within Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.

“My concentration this year is on domestic students,” she said.

“The international market is pretty secure, so I want to develop local contact with businesses and enterprises, and really making a name for this school right here.

“We haven’t really developed our full potential in that area, and that’s what I want to do.”

The college has an intake of 150 students a year, studying GCSEs, A-levels and international business foundation programmes.

Tutors focus on preparing youngsters for further study at red brick universities. Students posted record-breaking results in last month’s A-level results, with a 99 per cent pass rate across all exams. Seventy per cent of all results were graded A*-B, with 40 per cent achieving an A*-A grade.

Mrs Borland’s previous positions include assistant director of studies at the British Council in both Hong Kong and Jordan, as well as a role at Bath University.