Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, College of (CAFRE)

Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise, College of (CAFRE)

Age: 8

History: The college was formed by the amalgamation of Enniskillen, Greenmount and Loughry Colleges, the delivery of land-based programmes at Loughry and Greenmount dating back almost 100 years.

Address: Three modern, rural campuses in Northern Ireland, an hour's drive from each other and within a short distance of local towns.

Ambience: The Enniskillen campus, which focuses on equine and agricultural courses, is located near to the renowned Necarne Equestrian Centre. Greenmount offers courses to those entering and working in the agri-food industry and the Loughry campus is set in parkland bordered by woodlands and the Killymoon River.

Vital statistics: Further and higher education courses up to postgraduate level with a focus on practical training and work experience. Around 1,600 students, of whom approximately 870 are part-time.

Added value: Investments in recent years include the £3.5m Greenmount resource centre, offering leisure, computer and library facilities. Links with Queen's University, Belfast, the University of Ulster and local FE colleges. Exchange programme with Michigan State University. Good graduate employment rate. Modern residential accommodation available on all three campuses.

Easy to get into? Should be - keen on widening participation.

Glittering alumni: None as yet.

Transport links: Regular bus service to the nearest towns, and a modest motorway drive from Belfast. Cheap flights available from Great Britain to Belfast City and International Airports, and fast ferries to the Larne and Belfast ports.

Who's the boss? John Fay.

Teaching: The college has its own internal quality system, supplemented by working with a range of national awarding bodies.

Foundation degrees: Equine management; food manufacture; food product innovation; food studies; food, nutrition and health; horticulture; rural and countryside management.

Nightlife: Students journey to local towns for pubs and nightclubs, while further afield, Belfast is also a popular spot for nights out.

Any accommodation? Yes, and it's pretty good too. Students are put up in catered modern lodges at the Greenmount campus, although some live out in their second and third years. Average cost is around £60 a week, with the cheaper accommodation (including meals) reserved for under 18s.

How green is it? The Greenmount campus features The Trail, established in 1979 to provide students and the general public with a greater understanding of how farming interplays with care for the environment. Students can conduct tours, educating members of the public on sustainable farming, biodiversity and waste management.

Cheap to live there? Shouldn't be too bad, as it's so rural.

Fees: No fees for further education courses. Tuition fees for full-time HE courses for students from Northern Ireland and other countries in the European Economic Area will be £1380 per year. The tuition fees for students from Great Britain have not been set but are likely to be broadly in line with the level of fee charged in England, i.e. up to a maximum of £9000 per year for a full time Honours degree course.

Bursaries: The college offers bursaries in conjunction with industry.

Prospectus: 0800 028 4291; www.cafre.ac.uk

UCAS code: A45