For the last decade CREAM (Co-operative for Real Education in Agricultural Management) has been a unique and exciting educational experience that Greenmount Campus has integrated into its Higher National Diploma (HND Agriculture) programme and BSc Agricultural Technology Degree programme in partnership with Queens University, Belfast.

Roy McClenaghan, former Campus Principal, initiated this innovative concept whereby students would manage a high genetic merit dairy enterprise giving them ‘real’ responsibility and the opportunity to make ‘real’ decisions.

CREAM students

Joanne Montgomery, Victor Woods, Adele Smith and Brian McAuley

Choosing CREAM

All Greenmount students on both the HND and Degree programmes have had the opportunity to choose CREAM as their ‘Enterprise Management’ option. ‘Enterprise Management’ is synonymous with the "learning by doing" philosophy that underpins the educational experience at Greenmount and other CAFRE campuses.

Students have been involved in CREAM in the first and third years of their HND and the first and second years of their Degree. This opportunity has enabled them to apply what they have learnt in the classroom to real life situations and was experience that has been greatly valued by employers and work experience providers alike. Indeed their work experience year CREAM students have been enabled to work successfully on some of the top dairy herds in the world throughout Canada, USA, UK as well as seeing very different production systems in New Zealand.

What a tremendous learning experience!