BUSINESS OPINION BY RYAN WILLIAMS: Going Further in Education in Derry
RYAN WILLIAMS salutes the radical business-centred approach that is re-energising Derry's North West Regional College
The Further Education Sector in NI is significant. In 2016/2017 the six colleges in Northern Ireland welcomed over 155,000 enrolments to their campuses. That’s a pretty incredible number. The FE infrastructure turns over £260m, employs some 4000 staff and works with over 10,000 businesses in NI.
I have written several articles and blogs on the failure of our secondary Schools system in NI – essentially a selection process which focuses on often irrelevant academic and misleading league tables, and delivers UK worst results in terms of literacy and numeracy (and largely for those at the sharp end of social exclusion and poverty).
Virtually nothing within our secondary system has the first clue on how to encourage entrepreneurship, relevant career learning or innovation – we tinker around the edges without understanding the future concept of work and entrepreneurship.
In addition the loss of thousands of bright young talented students to the GB and beyond on an annual basis is a source for national embarrassment – our universities here should be ashamed of the number limits and the often ludicrous entrance requirements.
Ulster University has raised its game considerably across both business engagement and careers development. However, more work on this over coming years will be time well spent. We have a new local Provost at Magee – he is leading with fervour and energy – it bodes well for the city.
So what about our Further Education Sector and in particular NI’s leading Further Education College in the North West – on numbers alone it beats every other College hands down on a per capita analysis. Over 10,000 people now study with the North West Regional College on an annual basis – open to all genders and religions incidentally – imagine that in 2018 Northern Ireland.
It would be too easy to simply list the range of impressive stats without really understanding why the College model and in particular our local ‘bastion’ works so well in the North West.
The College didn’t always enjoy the kind of profile it has deservedly earned in the last five to ten years. When I worked in the city 20 years ago the College was, to be honest, a fairly impenetrable affair – I was never quite sure how to engage, there was limited business engagement and the ambition seemed to be little more than a ‘default’ education position when the secondary school system fell on its backside or when someone wanted to take an evening class in medieval tapestry and design. That’s overly harsh but you get the drift.
Radical shift
The change has been as radical as those who are leading it. In tandem the change in leadership, ambition and drive has produced a business-centred learning environment where educators understand what the economy actually needs, what the future employee/entrepreneur actually needs to thrive – and finds a way to deliver it. Even the physical transformation across the NWRC Campus infrastructure is a gem in the region – and more is in the pipeline.
Take the ‘DIAL’ (Design Innovation for Assisted Living) Project which will open in August 2018. This project will throw open its doors to the Healthcare Business and Innovation communities to come and test new products and services within the broad Health and Care Sector – providing real and tangible training and experience to students and businesses which the economy needs ‘yesterday’. The team leading this project are already global leaders in terms of cutting edge Health and Social Care training, Dementia Innovation, Healthcare Analytics to name but a few. Geraldine Lavery and her team are leading the charge to establish the North West as the epicentre of Ageing Well Technology and Service Innovation across Europe.
Business support
The Business Support Centre in the College also deserves special mention – managed by Dr Fergal Tuffy and Nicola Curry (I don’t know any local businesses who haven’t had their doors battered by the Business Support Team) the team blend the support on innovation and research with a signposting and ‘managed’ curation for placements, internships, Skills Focus and Apprenticeship Programmes.
The team is so well rounded our Connected Health business utilise the NWRC for all our accredited training - this business is headquartered in Belfast. The College is not bound by geography… as an equivalency that’s like asking Mid Ulster Council to deliver the planning function within Derry and Strabane…. it just couldn’t happen. The College has engaged over 400 businesses in the last 12 months. Over 80% of the businesses who have engaged on Innovation Support have done so for the first time. The Intellectual Property being created on a weekly basis will help transform he City and Region over time.
In fact the College is continuing to develop its innovation hubs.. My favourite Foodovation has been running for a couple of years; a new Product Development Centre will open in Limavady in May this year and as indicated above the DIAL centre will open this summer. A hunger to become increasingly international in scope and attraction – the ‘Team Derry’ approach to new markets and connections in India, China and the US are notable examples – and lets not forget the role of the College in the settlement of our local Syrian families. That’s right at the heart of our City and Region – we make people welcome.
Radical change
In reality the College has undergone radical change in leadership. The deck hasn’t so much been shuffled – the entire game has changed from Bridge to Texas Hold’Em. It's fast moving, responsive and reads the environment to plot the most efficient way to a winning hand. The Senior Management Team and staff deserve massive credit for the heart, mind and soul transformational progression.
We have had the privilege of hosting multiple long and short-term placement students from the College. The student product and the pastoral care built around the student is patently obvious. That’s not to say every student skips through the gate every morning like a member of the Walton’s on amphetamines. However the ‘campus’ lifestyle, the practical approaches to mapping the skill route to real, tangible, needed and often highly paid careers is second to none.
We sometimes fail to see the successes on our doorstep in the North West. It’s time to bring that to an end. Engage, create and celebrate – the clock is ticking.