QUEEN’S
Belfast under-graduates will be leading the way when it comes to this year’s European Week for Waste Reduction in November.
They have set the pace with award-winning initiatives at Queen’s University’s halls of resident, The Elms which have significantly reduced the normal levels of waste produced by the 1,800 strong student residents.
Commenting on this award winning initiative Environment Minister, Alex Attwood said: “Visiting Queen’s Elms village is truly inspirational – they have combined both imaginative and practical measures with their everyday activities to significantly reduce their waste and adopt a more environmentally – conscious approach.
“My department’s Rethink Waste campaign focuses on promoting behaviour change in our approach to waste in everyday life – it is impressive to see these supported and put to practice by Queen’s Elms village’s vegetable garden, book/ recipe and clothes swap initiatives that I have seen here today.
“European Week for Waste Reduction will be running this year from November 17-25. I would encourage everyone to take a look at their own routines at home, at work and in their local community, to see if there are any changes that could be made which could be registered as a Northern Ireland activity. Even the smallest measure can make a huge difference to reducing landfill.
Councillor Pat McCarthy, Chair of Belfast Council’s Environmental Committee, added: “Students were given the opportunity to appoint themselves Green Champion for the halls at the start of the project and it’s great that so many engaged with the project. Everyone was also encouraged to grow their own veg, as well as organising ‘swap shops’ to encourage waste reduction through reuse.”
Gwen Finlay from Queen’s Elms Village added: “We were proud and delighted to receive the European Waste Reduction Week Award. Staff and students alike embraced the initiatives and made it a success. In partnership with Belfast City Council, the entire Elms village participated to ensure our contributions to landfill were kept at an absolute minimum.
“European Week for Waste reduction is a fantastic platform to promote these actions, and we try to maximise on our efforts by promoting and enabling these habits all year round, which we have found very successful.”
UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
Photographs, poetry and prose from community groups across north Belfast are taking pride of place at a major celebration of the arts on the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus tonight (Friday)
The cross-community arts exhibition is just one of a series of Culture Night events being held on the campus and throughout Belfast.
Work from members of Ardoyne Youth Club, Woodvale Community Centre, Duncairn Community Centre and Holy Family Primary School will all feature in ‘Reflecting North Belfast – Words and Images’, organised by the community organisation, Arts for All.
Based on York Road since 2000, the organisation has been the bedrock of community arts projects in north Belfast for 11 years.
Co-ordinator, Heather Floyd, said the contributors to the exhibition – whose ages range from 13 to 86 – have been given a confidence boost by having their work exhibited at the University of Ulster.
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FE COLLEGES
South Eastern Regional College is offering a range of professional qualifications for new graduates and people already in the workplace – people like Clare O’Neil.
As part of her BA Hons Degree the SERC graduate got the chance to work towards a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 5 qualification.
Clare said: “’I’ve really enjoyed my course, but as I started thinking about applying for jobs, I knew that it was important to stand out. When my lectures encouraged us to get involved in this qualification I saw my opportunity to stand out from other graduates who I will be competing with for jobs in the future.”
For others graduation may not mean entering the world of work, as much as progressing in it and this was the experience of SERC student Gillian Fleming.
Having spent a number of years in administration jobs, she wanted to progress in her career in the recruitment industry, but found it hard to stand out from the crowd when applying for new jobs.
Gillian returned to SERC to undertake a Chartered Institute in Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualification. This gave her a greater insight into HR practice following the completion of the course she progressed to a Business Process Manager with her current employer.
Gillian said: “Completing the course at SERC really helped me get the career I always wanted. I have the skills and knowledge to do the job confidently and successfully.”
Professional qualifications now exist in almost every industry, with the aim of increasing specialist knowledge and promoting a greater understanding of the sector to help those starting out to the find a foothold to build a career.
For further information on South Eastern Regional College and the courses it offers, visit the website www.serc.ac.uk or call 0845 600 7555.
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OTHER COLLEGES
If you’re thinking of going back to the classroom, don’t forget about the community options which are available.
These are programmes and activities which have been developed as the result of consultation with the particular areas in which they are delivered so they meet the specific needs of local people.
Look out for organisations like the EGSA (Educational Guidance Service for Adults, egsa.org.uk); WEA (Workers’ Educational Association, wea.org.uk); NICVA (Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, nicva.org); WRDA (Women’s Resource and Development Agency, wrda.net); Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ictu.ie; University and College Union (UCU, ucu.org.uk); Rural Community Network, ruralcommunitynetwork.org, The Open University, open-university.co.uk; Colleges NI, anic.ac.uk; Open College Network NI, nocn.org.uk and Age NI, ageuk.org.uk.
Also the Women’s Tec, womenstec.com, in Belfast helps women get into non-traditional employment, while Conway Education, conwaymilltrust.org, has been running community education courses in the city since the Eighties. Check out the more recently launched Just Learning http://www.justlearningni.com/curriculum too
If you want to study conflict resolution The Irish School of Ecumenics, tcd.ie, is a graduate institute in Trinity College Dublin, with a campus in Belfast.
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LOUGHRY COLLEGE
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Michelle O’Neill caught up with Loughry Campus students Jack Burke of Moira; Andrea Cadden from Tobermore, and Alistair Wallace of Limavady, as they started their first week of study at Loughry Campus, Cookstown.
The food courses at Loughry Campus, CAFRE, have been developed to meet the needs of employers in the food industry.
Coupled with access to state-of-the-art food facilities, this means that Loughry students can develop the competences and skills needed by the food industry and have proven job success, says the college.
QUEEN’S
Belfast under-graduates will be leading the way when it comes to this year’s European Week for Waste Reduction in November.
They have set the pace with award-winning initiatives at Queen’s University’s halls of resident, The Elms which have significantly reduced the normal levels of waste produced by the 1,800 strong student residents.
Commenting on this award winning initiative Environment Minister, Alex Attwood said: “Visiting Queen’s Elms village is truly inspirational – they have combined both imaginative and practical measures with their everyday activities to significantly reduce their waste and adopt a more environmentally – conscious approach.
“My department’s Rethink Waste campaign focuses on promoting behaviour change in our approach to waste in everyday life – it is impressive to see these supported and put to practice by Queen’s Elms village’s vegetable garden, book/ recipe and clothes swap initiatives that I have seen here today.
“European Week for Waste Reduction will be running this year from November 17-25. I would encourage everyone to take a look at their own routines at home, at work and in their local community, to see if there are any changes that could be made which could be registered as a Northern Ireland activity.
Even the smallest measure can make a huge difference to reducing landfill.
Councillor Pat McCarthy, Chair of Belfast Council’s Environmental Committee, added: “Students were given the opportunity to appoint themselves Green Champion for the halls at the start of the project and it’s great that so many engaged with the project. Everyone was also encouraged to grow their own veg, as well as organising ‘swap shops’ to encourage waste reduction through reuse.”
Gwen Finlay from Queen’s Elms Village added: “We were proud and delighted to receive the European Waste Reduction Week Award. Staff and students alike embraced the initiatives and made it a success. In partnership with Belfast City Council, the entire Elms village participated to ensure our contributions to landfill were kept at an absolute minimum.
“European Week for Waste reduction is a fantastic platform to promote these actions, and we try to maximise on our efforts by promoting and enabling these habits all year round, which we have found very successful.”
UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
Photographs, poetry and prose from community groups across north Belfast are taking pride of place at a major celebration of the arts on the University of Ulster’s Belfast campus tonight (Friday)
The cross-community arts exhibition is just one of a series of Culture Night events being held on the campus and throughout Belfast.Work from members of Ardoyne Youth Club, Woodvale Community Centre, Duncairn Community Centre and Holy Family Primary School will all feature in ‘Reflecting North Belfast – Words and Images’, organised by the community organisation, Arts for All.
Based on York Road since 2000, the organisation has been the bedrock of community arts projects in north Belfast for 11 years.Co-ordinator, Heather Floyd, said the contributors to the exhibition – whose ages range from 13 to 86 – have been given a confidence boost by having their work exhibited at the University of Ulster.
FE COLLEGES
South Eastern Regional College is offering a range of professional qualifications for new graduates and people already in the workplace – people like Clare O’Neil.
As part of her BA Hons Degree the SERC graduate got the chance to work towards a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Level 5 qualification.
Clare said: “’I’ve really enjoyed my course, but as I started thinking about applying for jobs, I knew that it was important to stand out. When my lectures encouraged us to get involved in this qualification I saw my opportunity to stand out from other graduates who I will be competing with for jobs in the future.”
For others graduation may not mean entering the world of work, as much as progressing in it and this was the experience of SERC student Gillian Fleming.
Having spent a number of years in administration jobs, she wanted to progress in her career in the recruitment industry, but found it hard to stand out from the crowd when applying for new jobs.
Gillian returned to SERC to undertake a Chartered Institute in Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualification. This gave her a greater insight into HR practice following the completion of the course she progressed to a Business Process Manager with her current employer.
Gillian said: “Completing the course at SERC really helped me get the career I always wanted. I have the skills and knowledge to do the job confidently and successfully.”
Professional qualifications now exist in almost every industry, with the aim of increasing specialist knowledge and promoting a greater understanding of the sector to help those starting out to the find a foothold to build a career.
For further information on South Eastern Regional College and the courses it offers, visit the website www.serc.ac.uk or call 0845 600 7555.
OTHER COLLEGES
If you’re thinking of going back to the classroom, don’t forget about the community options which are available.
These are programmes and activities which have been developed as the result of consultation with the particular areas in which they are delivered so they meet the specific needs of local people.
Look out for organisations like the EGSA (Educational Guidance Service for Adults, egsa.org.uk); WEA (Workers’ Educational Association, wea.org.uk); NICVA (Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, nicva.org); WRDA (Women’s Resource and Development Agency, wrda.net); Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ictu.ie; University and College Union (UCU, ucu.org.uk); Rural Community Network, ruralcommunitynetwork.org, The Open University, open-university.co.uk; Colleges NI, anic.ac.uk; Open College Network NI, nocn.org.uk and Age NI, ageuk.org.uk.
Also the Women’s Tec, womenstec.com, in Belfast helps women get into non-traditional employment, while Conway Education, conwaymilltrust.org, has been running community education courses in the city since the Eighties.
Check out the more recently launched Just Learning http://www.justlearningni.com/curriculum too
If you want to study conflict resolution The Irish School of Ecumenics, tcd.ie, is a graduate institute in Trinity College Dublin, with a campus in Belfast.
LOUGHRY COLLEGE
Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Michelle O’Neill caught up with Loughry Campus students Jack Burke of Moira; Andrea Cadden from Tobermore, and Alistair Wallace of Limavady, as they started their first week of study at Loughry Campus, Cookstown.
The food courses at Loughry Campus, CAFRE, have been developed to meet the needs of employers in the food industry.
Coupled with access to state-of-the-art food facilities, this means that Loughry students can develop the competences and skills needed by the food industry and have proven job success, says the college.
