Put Students First, Coulter urges Executive
Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called on the Stormont Executive to ensure the needs of students are put first as the constituency’s three institutes of further and higher education merge on 1st August to form the Northern Regional College.
Dr Coulter, who was himself a college lecturer for 18 years, served as a member of the first Assembly’s Further and Higher Education and Training Committee.
“We in North Antrim will witness the merger of three institutes which have served the constituency exceptionally well over the years – Causeway, North East and East Antrim.
“We all wish the new senior management and governing body every success during this new period in further education in North Antrim.
“Whilst I know the staff and management will continue to provide the highest quality of education for the students, I would be concerned that this merger programme would place the new Super Tech in a financial straitjacket, forcing the new management to make cuts in both staff and course provision.
“In such a situation, it is always the students who suffer most. This is why I am appealing directly to the Stormont Executive to ensure it adopts the ethos of Putting Students First when it comes to funding these mergers.
“I would also call on the Executive not to use the forthcoming FE mergers as an excuse to ‘downsize’ the valuable role of the local ‘Techs’ in the life of the constituency.”
And he also called on everyone in the constituency to support their local campuses of Further and Higher Education to ensure their continued futures.
Assemblyman Dr Coulter said the local ‘Techs’ serving North Antrim had progressed over the years to become some of the central hubs in the constituency’s educational sector.
“The concepts of lifelong learning and adult education are vital to building an efficiently trained workforce in our constituency. Clearly one of the implications of such mergers will be to identify areas where savings can be made in administrative duplication in FE.
“This is so that the cash saved can be spent on the educational needs of the community and the development of our constituency’s new Northern Regional College in particular.
“It is vital this merger process does not become a blueprint by the Executive to downsize the FE sector in Northern Ireland. It is equally important there is no attempt to ‘dumb down’ the types of courses and training which our institutes provide.
“The FE sector has played a vital role in the life of the community in the North Antrim area and funding should be made available so that the campuses can continue to stand at the centre of our community. The importance of the role of FE in the community has not been fully recognised by educational theorists.
“FE, through the ‘Techs’ and now the regional college, has made a major contribution to society in the region. It gave young people - who perhaps had not achieved as well as they would have liked at school - another chance to carve out a meaningful career with recognised qualifications.
“FE has also made a significant contribution in the non-vocational sector where young people were allowed to develop a satisfying and worthwhile hobby or educational interest alongside an older generation.
“The present set-up in the FE sector is cash driven. This has denied the community many of its non-vocational classes. The ‘pay as you learn’ system being adopted is a copycat approach to an American educational system and I do not think it will achieve the objectives being set out by educational theorists.
“FE should be a blend of the vocational and non-vocational aspirations of the community and our campuses in North Antrim should be at the centre of activity throughout the week in the community.
“However, the community has its role to play, too, in ensuring the future of its local campus. It can support its local campus by enrolling in part-time or full-time classes which will benefit their learning experience or advance their qualifications.
“There continues to be much speculation about this rationalisation programme within the FE sector. As members of the community, it is imperative that all of us, young and old alike, play our part in the fight to ensure the future of the Northern Regional College campuses which serve our North Antrim constituency,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.