Part of the Bradford College campus is being rebranded as the Bradford Sixth Form Centre in a bid to impress parents and woo more A-level students.

College bosses are relaunching the centre in September when it will offer 42 different subjects at A-level - more than anywhere else in the district.

New subjects being offered for the first time will include A-levels in Film Studies and Islamic Studies and AS-level World Development. And young people are to be invited by text message to learn about the opportunities on offer at a promotional event at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, August 21.

The centre was previously known as the A-Level Centre and forms part of Bradford College, which is the largest in West Yorkshire, coaching students in everything from basic skills to degree level courses. But the aim now is to give the new-look Bradford Sixth Form Centre a much stronger identity, to persuade more 16-year-olds to choose the college over their school sixth forms.

A Bradford College spokesman said: "It came about because we are trying to fill a gap in the market, a sixth form centre providing such a wide range of courses."

A-level courses are taught in part of the Old Building on campus where classrooms and workshops take place.

The spokesman added: "The appeal of the college for a lot of young people is that it's a more mature environment and you get away from the environment of a secondary school where you have spent the last five years of your life. This can help to prepare you for university."

The Sixth Form Centre also boasts that "most of our tutors are senior examiners - the best people to help you get that vital grade".

However, its scores were relatively low in last December's league tables. Average point scores for A-levels, AS-levels and GNVQs taken at the college were given as 8.9, the fifth lowest out of 29 sixth form providers in the Bradford district.

The new World Development AS-level is one of the new courses being launched at the college in September. It will cover issues such as globalisation, poverty and Third World aid. Tutor Barry Pavier, head of history at the centre, said: "If you want to work on all the issues related to globalisation, poverty, development and anti-capitalism, this is the course for you."

The relaunch follows a critical report on opportunities for 16-19-year-old students in the Bradford area. Ofsted found there were too many competing school sixth forms, which in many cases only offered a small selection of courses.

Local education chiefs say that schools should collaborate more and form "federations" with Bradford, Shipley and Keighley Colleges to make sure young people get a proper choice of both academic and vocational courses.

Details of all the courses on offer together with comments from existing students are at www.bilk.ac.uk