NRC opening interviews

National World

02/10/2024

Transcript

00:00Claudia, you're a Performing Arts student here at the Northern Regional College and

00:05you transferred from the former campus. Can you tell me what this new £46 million campus

00:12is adding to your student experience?

00:14It's making everything feel a lot more professional. I'm studying Performing Arts so I'm in the

00:18separate building and the lights, the stage, it's soundproof, we have our own space to

00:24work in, we're not disrupting anybody singing songs in an assembly hall in a school. It's

00:29really going to set us up for what the future professional world is going to be like for

00:33someone that wants to study Performing Arts.

00:37My name's Simon Clarke, I lecture in Hospitality and Catering. I've been with the Northern

00:42Regional College for 10 years now. It's great to be moving down to the new campus. Ever

00:50since the day I started there was always talk about moving down to a new campus in a purpose

00:56built place and this year it came to fruition. In terms of our department, it's absolutely

01:01fabulous because we've got a purpose built facility here including a training restaurant

01:06which we didn't have at Ballet Money. It's enabled us now to offer a higher level apprenticeship

01:12and also a Hospitality and Tourism team member course that we just simply wouldn't have been

01:17able to do at Ballet Money. It's great to see it actually up and running and it's good

01:22to give the students a bit of a workout today. We're looking to provide Hospitality for 250.

01:29Just wouldn't have been possible in the old campus.

01:34So today sees the fruition of this £46 million project. What do you think this is going to

01:40mean to the Cosway Coast and Glens area as a whole?

01:43Well this is a very exciting day for the Northern Regional College and for Coleraine and for

01:48the whole of the Cosway Coast and Glens area and the wider region because we see the college,

01:53this new facility and the services that it will offer being a campus for skills and for

01:57lifelong learners and we think that's so important for the growth of the economy so it will have

02:02an impact right across this region.

02:05Hi, my name's Stuart Cullen. I'm a lecturer in the Creative Media Department in the Cosway

02:12Campus of the Northern Regional College. The new campus is opening today. It's a £46 million

02:18build and we are really privileged to have a million pound TV studio on the second floor

02:24of the building. The facilities we now have are going to cement the future of our students

02:29into the industry with top of the range equipment and facilities so we look forward to working

02:35with the students over the next number of years and helping them get where they want

02:39in the industry.

02:42What's your name and what course are you studying?

02:45My name is Aiden Hanna and I study TV and Film at Corain Tech.

02:50So Aiden, coming into a £46 million brand new building like this, how do you think that's

02:55going to improve your student experience here at Northern Regional College?

02:59It's amazing. The equipment that we have now compared to what we had, it makes you want

03:03to go out and make use of everything and create things to put in your portfolio and I feel

03:09everyone feels the same as me. It's just so wonderful and it's not just my courses,

03:16all the courses, everyone has state of the art facilities and there's nowhere like this

03:22anywhere else in Northern Ireland.

03:26So today sees the fruition of this £46 million project. What do you think it's going to mean

03:31to the whole of the Cosway Coast and Glens area?

03:33I'm absolutely delighted that we've been able to open our new campus here in the Cosway

03:37Coast and Glens area. It's a £46 million investment by the Department for the Economy

03:42which signals a significant investment which will regenerate not only the campus but also

03:48the town centre. We're standing here today in Anderson's Park. We positioned our campus

03:54onto Anderson's Park to allow our 1,300 students who will be here every day to access this

04:00wonderful park, re-enter the town, to bring life, to regenerate the town centre and that's

04:05one of the key aspects of having a town centre location here. In this campus we will offer

04:11a significant amount of learning and training opportunities for our students. Those opportunities

04:17will be for those entering the workforce and who want to upskill, reskill or gain any sort

04:23of skills. FD further education colleges are all about the skills economy and what we will

04:30be doing here is focusing very much on the local needs, looking at the areas of sport,

04:35tourism, hospitality, linking very much with the areas of natural beauty in Benevna, the

04:40Giant's Cosway and also the Gulf is coming to Royal Port Rush and a lot of our curriculum

04:46is regional, focusing on the needs of the local businesses and we will equip our students

04:52to enter that workforce to make Cosway Coast and Glens more productive and ultimately make

04:58Northern Ireland more productive, linking in to the Minister's sub-regional plans about

05:03focusing on local and regional needs. I know the college held a few open days for members

05:09of the public to come and see the campus, what's the feedback been from those open days?

05:14I'm delighted to state that we've had a number of engagements with our community and throughout

05:19this whole process we've worked very closely with the community. This campus is one about

05:23curiosity, community and collaboration. In the recent open day over 800 members of the

05:30local community came in to this campus to see round it. Even today as we stand here

05:36we've had a 15% increase in student numbers compared to last year coming in to these fantastic

05:42facilities. We offer hair and beauty, real life opportunities, tourism, working in the

05:50catering facilities, motor vehicle, engineering, health and social care. All of our students get

05:55real life experiences which equip them to enter the world of work.

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