South West College Helps Students Stay Connected
Media, computing and art and design students from South West College attended the Enniskillen Campus recently to feed their creative inspiration for all things digital.
As the appetite for digital technologies and applications continues to soar, students heard from influential and leading figures in the Northern Ireland digital, creative and media industry who shared their thoughts on digital and social media.
The conference also centred on emerging and next generation mobile technologies; software developments; career opportunities in the industry and the range of higher level study opportunities.
Sinclair Stockman, Director of the Digital Northern Ireland 2020 Project, a network launched to move forward with creating momentum for the exploitation of Northern Ireland’s digital platform, talked about how DNI 2020 is aimed at supporting all sectors of the local economy to identify how telecommunications technology can be exploited to secure business growth.
Matt Johnson from Digital Circle, the representative organisation for digital content businesses in NI, spoke about his organisation’s aims to promote the digital content sector at both local and international level.
The Mencap LiveNet project was represented by Rosie Maguire, who talked about the project which enables children and adults with a learning disability and their carers to use information and communication technologies to improve their health and wellbeing and to stay connected with their community. Students also heard about the volunteer opportunities available to become ICT buddies or mentors to assist participants on the Mencap LiveNet project.
The College was also delighted to welcome local BBC Newsline reporter, Julian Fowler who spoke to the student body about his career in the media industry and the various roles within the sector, which opened awareness to the supportive careers tied up within the BBC.
Speaking about the event, Kate Sheridan, Curriculum Manager at South West College said;
“This was an invaluable session with tremendous response from all students who attended. The world is their oyster with regard to the level of training and education given at South West College and events like this provide an insight into the digital employment sector the students will be facing.
We are very grateful to the industry representatives who supported this event and gave of their time to provide a true insight into today’s ever-changing and exciting digital, creative and media industry.”
Students were also given the opportunity to ask questions and individually engage with the guest speakers.
