Study Visit | Southern Regional College

The College Alliance is delighted to be hosted by Southern Regional College in Northern Ireland, for our study visit on Wednesday 2 December & Thursday 3 December 2026. 

This study visit will explore how colleges can act as strategic connectors - working with schools, employers and wider partners to create stronger pathways into technical and vocational education, skills, employment and opportunity.

Drawing on practice at Southern Regional College and across Northern Ireland’s college system, we will explore how closer collaboration between schools and colleges can create earlier opportunities for young people to access technical and vocational education, including through provision for learners aged 14-16. We will consider how these partnerships work in practice, the benefits they can bring for young people, and what makes effective school-college relationships possible.

The visit will also explore the role colleges can play as innovation partners to employers, looking at how specialist expertise and initiatives such as the Innovation Voucher model can support businesses to innovate, develop their workforce and grow. Bringing these perspectives together, we will consider what the Northern Ireland experience can tell us about the wider role of colleges within local and regional economies, and how stronger connections through educational transitions and with employers, can create better pathways into skills, work and opportunity.

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