NRC opening interviews
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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.