MLA’s concern on enrolment imbalances

Banbridge Campus Southern Regional College.

CONCERNS have been raised over higher education enrolments at Banbridge campus of Southern Regional College compared to other areas

The alleged distribution disparity has been raised by Upper Bann MLA Samuel Gardiner who has discovered enrolments are “significantly higher” in Newry compared to Banbridge, Portadown and Lurgan.

Mr Gardiner said Newry, with 33 per cent of the population, had 75 per cent of full-time higher education foundation enrolments, while Banbridge - with nearly 15 per cent of the population - had zero per cent.

Mr Gardiner said, “I understand that historical patterns of enrolment are related to how colleges evolved in the past, but I have a concern that higher education enrolments appear to be significantly higher in the Newry campus of the Southern Regional College than they are in Banbridge, Portadown and Lurgan.”

Between them, he claimed, Banbridge, Lurgan and Portadown account for nearly half (46.5 per cent) of the Southern Regional College’s catchment area population, but jointly had only 25 per cent of full-time higher education Foundation enrolments.

This compares to Newry which has 75 per cent of full-time higher education Foundation enrolments - despite the fact the town has only 33 per cent of the population of the Southern Regional College’s catchment area population.