local

“Media Reports that St. Angela’s College is closing are inaccurate” - Taheny

Dr Anne Taheny, President of St Angela's College has sought to counteract any media reports that state that St Angela's College is closing.

In a statement to SligoToday.ie Dr Taheny says, "St. Angela’s College Sligo is not closing. The recent report on the Structure of Initial Teacher Education recommends that the Teacher Education part of St. Angela’s College move to the NUI Galway Campus. This transfer, should it happen, does not impact on all of the other undergraduate and postgraduate provision at the College and its Continuing Professional Development Programmes and Adult and Continuing Education Provision. St. Angela’s College is a College of NUI Galway and offers a wide range of programmes at Certificate, Diploma, Degree, Postgraduate Diploma and Masters Level

"St. Angela’s welcomes the Report’s recognition of the College’s unique contribution as the sole provider of Home Economics Teacher Education in Ireland. The Report also acknowledges the longstanding academic relationship with NUI Galway and the potential for closer collaboration as one of the six proposed new Institutes for Teacher Education.

The statement continues, "St. Angela’s College is confident that in conjunction with NUI Galway it can deliver on the recommendations in the Report and continue to provide the highest quality Teacher Education in Home Economics.  However, we contend that the best and most cost effective option is to continue to deliver the B.Ed. Home Economics Degree Programme on the Sligo Campus. The rationale for this is based on the College’s sixty years of established excellent academic expertise in this specialist discipline along with recently refurbished state of the art specialist facilities.

"Our graduates from this Teacher Education Programme have a national and international reputation as top class teachers.  We attract the highest calibre of student to the programme.  We have excellent retention rates and can boast a 100% employment record for graduates.

"It is the objective of St. Angela’s College to secure the continued provision of Initial Teacher Education in Home Economics at our Sligo Campus as part of the proposed new NUI Galway/St. Angela’s College Institute for Teacher Education. We are proactively engaging with our political representatives and key stakeholders to ensure that Home Economics Teacher Education remains on the St. Angela’s College Campus in Sligo," the statement concluded.