News

In recent weeks, thousands of students and staff from Northern Ireland’s Further Education (FE) colleges have combined their time, talents and skills gained through their college courses to support frontline efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 61,000 students are currently studying further and higher education courses at Belfast Metropolitan College, Northern Regional College, North West Regional College, Southern Regional College, South East Regional College and South West College.

Northern Regional College lecturer leading by example on COVID-19 ward

Friday
24th April 2020

A Health and Social Care lecturer at Northern Regional College doing weekend shifts as a healthcare assistant in the COVID-19 wards at Antrim Area Hospital plans to donate her payment for this work to Ulster University’s COVID-19 testing fundraising appeal. Jacqui McAllister from Carnlough, who teaches full time in the College’s Newtownabbey campus, admitted her family were “horrified” when she told them that she’d be working on the frontline, but felt it was something she had to do. She joins dozens of students from the College and Newtownabbey campus in particular, working as healthcare assistants in hospitals, nursing homes and in the local community during the pandemic.

Northern Regional College Distributes Protective Face Shields to Healthcare Workers

Thursday
23rd April 2020

Engineering staff at Northern Regional College are using 3D printers to produce protective face shields to help cope with the unprecedented demand for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Northern Regional College has embraced a wide range of technology and digital platforms to deliver online learning to its students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to the power of technology, around 4,000 of the College’s students who normally attend classes at its campuses in Newtownabbey, Magherafelt, Ballymena, Ballymoney and Coleraine are now learning from home.

Northern Regional College Art Students Get to Grips with Remote Learning

Thursday
2nd April 2020

As students – and their teachers – everywhere are coming to terms with remote learning, Art lecturer Paul Wilson has come up with a novel way of showing his Level 3 Industrial Art and Design class the sort of work he expects for their ‘Urban-Rural’ painting assignment. Paul set up an Instagram page and posted a selection of his own paintings on the theme, based on photographs the students had taken, and is delighted with the response. “It’s just a different way of showing them what is required for the assignment - they are clearly visual learners as there has been 100 percent engagement.”

Northern Regional College has embarked on a joint initiative with South West Regional College to promote positive mental health among students by offering them online resilience training. Resilience training was previously delivered on a face-to-face basis as part of the College’s health and well-being strategy but, as Stephen McCartney, Head of Student Support at the College explains, the COVID-19 crises has prompted them to think outside the box and do things differently.