2011 International Green Awards Winners: Dr John Moore, Aaron Black, Mark McGuigan, presented with the award for Best Green Education & Sustainability Awareness Award by (L) sustainable finance expert Leo Johnson, Philippa Forrester (R)
The South West College Sustainability team have won international recognition for their education and industry engagement activities at the International Green Awards hosted in the prestigious Natural History Museum London. The highly acclaimed International Awards ceremony is now in its sixth year and recognises the best in class examples of creativity in business, citizen and government initiatives leading to sustainable outcomes.
The awards are open for entries from across the world and this year attracted entries from Australia, USA, Canada, China, Denmark, Singapore, South Africa, India, Germany, Norway and Sweden. In a glittering ‘green carpet’ event hosted by Phillippa Forrester and Leo Johnson, South West College fought off international competition to claim the Gold Award in the Best Green Education and Sustainability Awareness category. Speaking at the event, Phillippa Forrester said the judging panel “were highly impressed by the commitment shown by the college in the area of sustainable development”.
This award recognizes the wide range of work undertaken by the college from the construction and demonstration of the Renewable Energy Farm in 2004 to the recent launch of the colleges Foundation Degrees in Energy Environment and Sustainability and Wind Turbine Technology. Playing a significant role in the judging panel’s decision was the wide range of industrial assistance undertaken through the college’s InnoTech Centre in the area of sustainability and renewable energy which has seen the development of wind turbines, biomass equipment, anaerobic digestion systems and hydro stations for local companies. Also recognized was the wide range of training and mentoring activities delivered through the Carbon Zero NI programme to the local renewable energy industry.
Speaking after the event, Aaron Black from the SWC InnoTech Centre and Carbon Zero NI programmes said; “This is an incredible achievement for the college. For a Further Education College from rural Northern Ireland to compete and win on an International stage alongside the likes of Samsung, Nissan, Unilever, P&G, Coca-Cola and De Beers is unheard of. This award truly shows that the quality of the curriculum and industry assistance we have developed is of the highest International standard. We are so pleased that our work has been recognised in this way”.
This award is now added to two Association of Collages Beacon Awards which recognise the colleges industry engagement and STEM activities making a successful hat-trick for the college on the National and International stage.
