08 October 2008
South Eastern Regional College Wins UTV Business Eye Business / Education Awards
South Eastern Regional College have been announced as the winner of the Business/ Education Award at the UTV Business Eye Awards 2008. The accolade has been awarded based on the long-standing relationship with Canyon Europe, a world-leading manufacturer of trigger sprayers, industrial sprayers and dispensers.
Canyon Europe has been involved in the Connected Project, funded by the Department for Employment and Learning, which has resulted in Northern Ireland’s first Polymer Apprenticeship Programme. The College has worked very closely with the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s University and has availed of bespoke training to up skill their current polymer staff to better meet the training and research needs of this industry.
College staff worked with Canyon Europe to create prototype samples of nozzles, which led to a three year contract being won, providing 5 million nozzles a month to SC Johnson for the Mr Muscle product.
“We are delighted that our partnership with South Eastern Regional College helped us secure the contract with SC Johnson who was very impressed with the quality of our prototypes,” said Neil Ryan, product development manager at Canyon Europe.
Terry Francis, Head of Business Innovation and Development at South Eastern Regional College stated:
“This award demonstrates our ongoing commitment to working with industry in new innovative ways. The Connected project has allowed us to continue to deliver highly valuable and unique services to companies such as Canyon Europe. This would not have been achieved without the support of the Department for Employment and Learning. We have also been able to develop our working relationship with PPRC at Queen’s University and use this collaboration to develop our skills, knowledge and best practice within the polymer sector.”
Congratulating the South Eastern Regional College on their award, Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, said: “This is an outstanding example of how a locally-based company can benefit, in real commercial terms, from working closely with both the Higher and Further Education sectors.
“I offer my sincere congratulations to the South Eastern Regional College and to its partners in the Polymer Processing Research Centre at Queen’s University and at Canyon Europe on this highly prestigious award.”
