315 Students Graduates in South West College Ceremony
More than 300 South West College students graduated on Tuesday 20th December during a ceremony at the Strule Arts Centre, Omagh.
This is the fourth year the College has conducted winter graduations, with the event simultaneously broadcast through a wireless link-up to the College’s Omagh Campus.
Higher Education honours were awarded to graduates who studied at the College’s campuses in Tyrone and Fermanagh or through a range of accredited courses delivered in partnership with Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster.
Keynote speaker at the ceremony was Mrs Noelle Buick, Chief Inspector of the Education and Training Inspectorate. Originally from Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, Mrs Buick lived and worked in Jordan for three years, following her graduation from Queen’s University Belfast, before moving to England where she worked as a teacher and senior manager in education and training.
Mrs Buick has been an inspector since 1998 and has previously worked in the Further Education Funding Council and the Adult Learning Inspectorate. She has experience across a wide range of inspection remits including schools, further education, work-based learning, initial teacher education and youth provision and has held a number of senior positions in inspection, most recently in Ofsted - the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Malachy McAleer, Director of South West College, congratulated the students on their achievements.
“This is a tremendous day for the students, their families and for the College. I congratulate them all on their achievements and wish them every success for the future as they apply their newfound skills for the betterment of the South West region and further beyond.
“The college vision focuses on ‘developing people’ and ‘achieving potential’ through a service that is grounded in excellence, innovation, teamwork, integrity and confidence. The quality of each student graduating here today demonstrates that the vision is being realised. Gaining an academic or vocational achievement is an important moment for all who have taken this path, but it is also just the beginning of new opportunities and future careers.”
The College has just emerged from a very successful Higher Education Quality Inspection, which identified significant areas of good practice in the core theme of Academic Standards. The College was also awarded the prestigious International Green Award in the area of sustainability against opposition from countries across the world including: USA, Canada, Australia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Bahrain, South Africa, Denmark, Kenya and Sweden, amongst others. The award was presented on 24 November 2011 in the National Science Museum in London by the BBC Environmental presenter, Phillipa Forrester.
One of the areas complimented by the judges was the development of courses in Wind Turbine Technology and students completing the HND in Renewables Wind Turbine Technology were among those collecting honours at the graduation ceremony. Tony McCallion completed the hands-on course, which provides technical know-how and training for one of Europe’s fastest growing sectors and is now employed with London Array, a consortium of global renewable energy companies that are developing the world’s largest offshore wind farm in the Thames Estuary.
Tony said;
“I’m proud to have gained a qualification that has not just enhanced my skills, but given me a career path and opportunity to work on some of the most important projects in the UK. Renewables and wind technology are still relatively new topics for many colleges and universities and South West College is recognised as being the best.”
For further details on the full range of courses offered by South West College log on to www.swc.ac.uk.
