Council Hosts Reception for EU and Local College Partners

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Charlie Casey recently hosted a reception in the Council chamber for the Southern Regional College and 35 EU partners from the ‘Network of Networks’ group. The event, which took place in Newry on Tuesday 8 October.

The ‘Network of Networks’ initiative, now in its fourth year, brings together further education organisations including the Southern Regional College and educational institutions in Finland, Holland, Spain and Scotland.

The Chairman of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council said, “I am delighted to be able to host this reception for further education lecturers. I am also proud of the work that the Southern Regional College and other local colleges have done to continue to build relationships, share best practice and learn from each other.

“The Network has proved to be an excellent vehicle for European cooperation. The consortium has been able to bid for EU funds and on an annual basis, it is involved in 96 Erasmus+ projects, sending over 4,000 students and 1,000 staff on educational visits. This year alone, the Southern Regional College has received EU funding of approximately €900,000 for Erasmus+ projects.

“Our council has the empowerment and improvement of the capacity of our communities as one of our strategic priorities and there is no doubt that education is key to achieving this objective.”

Southern Regional College’s international programme is managed through the External Funding and International Affairs Team. It uses the EU Erasmus+ programme as the main vehicle for student and staff educational visits to partner institutions, and for implementing a range of innovative strategic partnership projects.