South Eastern Regional College (SERC) is a further and higher education college in the south-east of

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. SERC was created following the merger of three institutes of further and higher education in the south-east of Northern Ireland. These were East Down Institute, Lisburn Institute and North Down and Ards Institute. The merger took effect from August 2007. SERC's aim is to become a top 20 global college by 2020 and is currently listed in the top 30 colleges in the UK. The college was inspected in 2009 by the Education and Training Inspectorate, with the finding that "In the priority skills areas inspected, the quality of education and training provided by the South Eastern Regional College is good".

Campuses

The college's main campuses are situated in: *

Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to: Northern Ireland * Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland *Ballynahinch, County Down, a town Republic of Ireland *Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway *Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway * Bally ...

* Bangor *

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the bu ...

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

(Institute established 1910) *

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

In addition to these main campuses, smaller campuses are also located in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

and

Holywood Holy Wood or Holywood may refer to: Places * Holywood, County Down, a town and townland in Northern Ireland ** Holywood, County Down (civil parish), a civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland ** Holywood railway station (Northern Ireland) * ...

with multiple out-centers throughout the province.

Courses available

The college offers a range of full-time and part-time' courses and has over 30,000

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

and over 1,000 members of staff. Courses are available in a wide range of subjects at a

further education Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

level. There are also many part-time leisure courses which run in the evening, for example Holiday Spanish, Tai Chi, Painting For Pleasure or Baking Breads. SERC also runs a range of Apprenticeships and Higher Level Apprenticeships.

Commercial Interests

SERC has a wide range of facilities that are available to rent. The three hair & beauty salons and three restaurants are open to the public to book.

References

{{authority control Further education colleges in Northern Ireland Higher education colleges in Northern Ireland Educational institutions established in 2007 2007 establishments in Northern Ireland