Travel and Tourism lecturer, Karen McLeod, who co-ordinates the Level 3 Diploma, explains that the awards are completed during Year 1 and Year 2 of the programme.
“These awards offer important additional skills and knowledge in this specific sector of the Travel & Tourism Industry and prepare the students for employment specifically within the airline and airport sector of the travel and tourism industry.
“Since the College introduced these programmes, they have proved to extremely popular with students. The support of Belfast International Airport has been invaluable and has allowed our education provision to go from strength to strength. This year we had a 100% achievement rate on the Travel & Tourism course and with these additional certificates, their employability options in the airline and airport sector will be improved.
The visit to the airport included talks by Graham Keddie, Managing Director of Belfast International Airport; Uel Hoey, Business Development Director; and Jaclyn Coulter, Head of Human Resources. The talks were followed by a lively Q&A session with the airport staff sharing fun facts and stories about their personal and team experiences of working at the busy Belfast International Airport.
The Airline and Airport awards were presented by Graham Keady and Uel Hoey. Congratulating the students on their success and wishing them well in their future careers Mr Hoey said: “There is no doubt that the enhanced portfolio of Travel and Tourism courses is very welcome by Belfast International Airport.
It supports the training and development needs of local students and the airline/airport sector of the travel and Tourism industry. As Belfast International is on the doorstep of The Northern Regional College, the airport and the College aim to complement the industry’s vision of putting people first, through meeting the personal and professional needs of the workforce.”
Bethany Shaw and Nicole Peryagh, Northern Regional College students on the Extended Diploma Travel and Tourism programmes said they felt they had made the right choice doing the Level 3 Diploma.
“The Level 3 Travel and Tourism course has given us many new and fun experiences and will help open so many doors for us. The Airline and Airport awards are an amazing add-on and we can’t wait to see what jobs they lead us into in the future.”
