Colleges NI: open for business
Colleges NI Chief Executive Gerard Campbell outlines the key role of Northern Ireland’s further education colleges in underpinning the development of the economy and looks at how the sector is now open for business on a number of fronts.
Now that the reorganisation of the further education sector is bedding down in the 5 years since the six regional colleges came into being, the sector is ‘open for business’ in a number of ways. It is open for business with employers in business and industry and also in terms of students and learners. The six colleges have 155,000 learners each year and deal with over 7,500 different businesses and organisations.
The role of the colleges in developing the local economy is through supplying skills, qualifications, knowledge and competences to meet the particular needs of businesses. This is achieved through college programmes which include foundation degrees, higher national diplomas, skills qualifications and level 3 diploma and certificates in a wide range of areas.
We take a partnership approach in linking with employers and stakeholders. The six individual colleges develop their own links in their geographical are aand right across Northern Ireland. The role of Colleges NI is to provide a sectoral voice in terms of particular campaigns or a particular focus on an issue affecting the sector. We support collaboration and partnership with the colleges in meeting the needs of a wide range of stakeholders. We also work to get particular messages out to stakeholders and audiences as to how the colleges can support them and provide business focused solutions.
An example of this approach is the BEST (Business and Education through Skills and Training) awards, organised for the first time in 2011. The awards are co-ordinated by Colleges NI’s STEM & Economic Advisor Dr Alan Blair, who had previously led the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) review for the Department of Education and the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL). There were already many awards for schools in the STEM area and the BEST awards were introduced for the colleges to showcase the best project work across the colleges. The BEST awards have been readily embraced by staff and students alike and the quality of the projects have impressed all who have participated in the awards. The panel of judges who assess the students are comprised of experts from business and industry. The Minister for Employment and Learning presents the awards.
Colleges NI also manages the Skills Pipeline (also chaired by Alan Blair) which was set up by DEL to develop protocols for colleges to engage with businesses and key stakeholders such as Invest NI, DETI and DEL. This allows a consistent approach by the colleges and is very much a two-way process allowing feedback to the stakeholders. Invest NI engages Colleges NI at an early stage when any inward investment is announced, to bring the relevant college on board at an early stage in the process.
The structured and coherent approach between the six colleges has strengthened the sectors strategic vision and the needs of the economy by supporting a curriculum which is economically relevant and driven to meet and support business and industry’s requirements.
Looking to the future, the economy remains the number one challenge. The Executive’s Economic Strategy is about getting sustainable jobs into Northern Ireland. Making the economy competitive is a priority and any change in corporation tax will bring its own challenges. Sustainable employment can only be maintained in Northern Ireland if we have the right level of skills and the training available for those new jobs. These skills and training can be provided by the six regional colleges who operate right across Northern Ireland.
Gerard Campbell, Colleges NI, Chief Executive can be contacted on 028 9068 2296 or at gerard.campbell@collegesni.ac.uk
