THE new £30 million South West College Erne Campus in Enniskillen was officially opened yesterday (Wednesday, September 22) by Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons.

In addition to the excitement of the official opening, there was further celebration with the news that the college had been awarded a top UK award for delivering outstanding cyber education.

During the official opening of the new campus, South West College Chief Executive Michael McAlister announced the college's most recent success.

He said: "An expert panel from the UK National Cyber Security Centre in London awarded 16 colleges and schools across the UK with awards for delivering outstanding cyber education.

"The awards were either gold, silver or bronze, depending on the competency demonstrated. It's great to know that South West College is the only college in Northern Ireland to achieve the highest gold award, which is a credit to the college."

The Erne Campus has been described as Mr. McAlister's swansong as he retires this year.

Speaking after performing the official opening, Minister Lyons said: “I am delighted to be able to officially open this fantastic new educational facility for South West College.

"The new complex is a superb example of what we can achieve in Northern Ireland, and will provide a high-quality educational environment for learners for many years to come."

Designed by Hamilton Architects and constructed by Enniskillen-based Tracey Brothers Ltd, the Erne Campus is one of the world’s most sustainable educational buildings, having secured both PassivHaus Premium and BREEAM Outstanding accreditations.

Speaking about these achievements, Mr. Lyons said: “The building has secured world-class sustainability accreditations – the first in the UK to do so – and the college will capitalise on this by delivering a series of innovative and complementary learning and skills programmes, including wind, biomass, sustainable construction, hydrogen, energy storage and sustainable food.”

Standing at 8,200sq m, the new, fully accessible, state-of-the-art campus opened its doors to students for the first time at the beginning of September and can accommodate 800 full-time students, 2,000 part-time students, and 120 staff.

Rory McManus, a Level 3 Creative Media student at South West College, transitioned from the Fairview site to the new Erne Campus as he started his second year on the course.

"I have experience of the old building and the new one so it's a big change and it's a great change," Rory told The Impartial Reporter at the official opening of the new campus.

Describing the new state-of-the-art facilities as "amazing", he said: "There are so many facilities for everything really, for anything you're interested in, animation or filming techniques. There's really good equipment there for students to use.

"I'm most excited to use the recording equipment, specifically for audio and stuff. Some music as well would be pretty cool, and also using cameras and all to do short films for projects."

Commenting on what he considers to be the biggest difference between the new campus and the old, Rory said: "There are so many lounge areas compared to the old building. You could never sit down in the old building, as there was nowhere to go, but now there is good social space. You can always sit with someone and chat."

He noted that this provision of good social space provides opportunities for interaction between students on different courses.

"I've met more people in the last two weeks that I've been here this year than I met last year, because everyone is now in at the one time, which is great."

He added: "I'm just excited about being in for the full ride, really – we didn't really get to be in all last year, we were being bounced from home to college, so being in the whole time and having that classroom experience with other like-minded people, it's exciting."