SERC Selected as WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence

South Eastern Regional College (SERC) is to get a world-class skills boost thanks to a revolutionary scheme aimed at attracting inward investment and generating economic growth.  

The Centre of Excellence from WorldSkills UK, in association with NCFE, is the brainchild of Belfast-born Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, a former Deputy Director General of CBI.  

Unique insights and expertise gathered during decades of competing against and now collaborating with world-class skills organisations in countries such as Japan, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan, are to be cascaded to SERC, to bring substantial benefits to learners.  The College is among the leading FE institutions across the UK, and one of the six colleges in Northern Ireland, which have been selected to join the skills revolution by becoming part of WorldSkills UK’s Centre of Excellence.  

The programme will see educators across the province receive exclusive training with over 60 hours of intensive Continual Personal Development.

Claire Henderson, Chief Officer Quality Excellence and Development said, “SERC is delighted to be part of the NI FE Colleges network selected to participate in the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence initiative.”  

She added, “Paul Crawford, a Lecturer in Construction and the Built Environment at SERC, has been appointed as the College’s WorldSkills Educator. Through the Construction HUB that exists within the FE College network, we will use this initiative to raise standards in technical education and training at all levels across all six Colleges.”

More than 40,000 young people, from all socio-economic groups, are being armed with world-class skills in the pioneering project.   The three-year pilot project, which began last September, is already impacting more than 20 educational institutions and nearly 1,000 educators across the UK.  

Pictured above:  (L – R) Lecturer, Paul Crawford has been appointed SERC’s WorldSkills Educator with Claire Henderson, Chief Officer Quality Excellence and Development and John Nixon, Head of School of Construction, Engineering Services and Skills for Work.