Student-centred learning with management experience

For most students, the transition from school to College is the beginning of a major change in their way of life and study.  When you begin a College course, you will find that you have considerably more freedom in planning your academic life; the pattern of study is different from school and there is less formal teaching and a greater emphasis on student centred learning.

A wide range of teaching methods is used. In most courses, teaching is by a combination of lectures, tutorials and practical sessions where you can apply the theory you have learned in real management and decision-making situations.  Seminars and tutorials, assignments and case studies provide opportunities for discussion and problem solving.  Tutorial classes consist of small groups of students where the tutor guides students in more detailed study of specialised topics.

You will be encouraged to expand your knowledge using the results of the latest research findings.  Courses are not confined to the classroom, and CAFRE has extensive practical facilities, which are extensively used by all students.  Higher Education students take responsibility for selected College enterprises and perform all the duties involved in managing an enterprise, including assessing performance and initiating management changes.

Greenmount Campus now operates a number of unique student-learning projects within its Higher Education programmes and Enniskillen Campus has the MARES (Management and Reproduction of Equines) project, which provides students with an opportunity to be directly involved with the management of the College Equine Breeding Unit.  Loughry Campus students gain production and retail management experience in the excellent food facilities while horticulture students at Greenmount Campus gain management experience within the horticultural enterprise at the College.  This allows students to specialise in retail garden centre plants, grow crops under contract, retail protected crops such as Poinsettias, or undertake landscape projects.