In 1846 the Chance family started evening classes in science and art at their glassworks in Spon Lane for the benefit of their workers. In 1852 an education institute was formed which existed for almost twenty years. By 1885 Most classes were being run in the envening at the higher grade school in Crocketts Lane. In 1910 a permanent Smethwick Technical School was opened next door. It served as a Junior Technical School for school-age pupils during the day and an adult further education school in the evenings.
The school became Smethwick Municipal College in 1927 and was renamed Chance Technical College in 1945 and A block of engineering and building workshops was opened in 1950.
Between 1952 and 1966 major extensions were built and they enabled the college to accommodate 3,500 students by 1966. In 1968 the college was merged with Oldbury College of Further Education to form Warley College of Technology, with the buildings in Crockett's Lane (Chance Building) housing the main administrative centre of the new college and six of its eight departments
At some point it merged again and became Sandwell College - Smethwick Finally closing in stages between 2011 and 2012 as the college moved to a new campus.
