Ministers open new further education college in Omagh

Omagh’s new Further Education College was today officially opened by deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Employment and Learning Minister Sir Reg Empey.

The state of the art £20million building provides the people of Omagh with an educational establishment which is widely considered to be the most modern and best equipped in Northern Ireland.

Speaking at the event the deputy First Minister said: “This college can be an example of the society which we hope to build. There is a place here for everyone whatever their class, creed or origin, whatever the level to which they strive.

“The administration which I am privileged to jointly head has a responsibility to build a community where diversity is recognised for the potential that it offers and where difference is seen for the opportunities it provides for us to learn from each other. In doing so we expand our understanding and make ourselves better for that experience.

“Omagh College, like all educational institutions, has a massive part to play in making that ambition a reality.”

In his address to invited guests, Sir Reg said:  “This new state of the art college is further evidence of the joint commitment between the Department and the Further Education sector  to ensuring that young people and adults have modern and up to date learning environments.  If we are aspiring to be the best, we must have the facilities to enable us to reach that level.”

The College currently has 900 full-time students, approximately 5,000 part-time students, 500 job skills trainees and employs more than 210 full-time and part-time lecturing staff and managers and 71 support staff.

Sir Reg continued:  “The Further Education sector plays a key role in the social and economic development of the people of Northern Ireland, a role which has been brought into sharper focus through the Department for Employment and Learning’s ‘Success Through Skills’ strategy.  This strategy has identified a series of major challenges for the future, all of which aim to provide a suitably skilled workforce to help local industry compete in an increasingly global market-place.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

  1. The 16 local Further Education colleges will merge to six from 1 August 2007
  2. Omagh College will merge with Fermanagh College and East Tyrone College. The new grouping will be called South West College.
  3. Media queries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7872.