Colleges as Anchors in their Space

member of a very active Scottish maritime cluster.21 It trains a

third of all officer cadets for the UK's merchant navy and works

closely with the Merchant Navy Training Board to revitalise

training for ratings apprenticeships. The college has been pivotal

in a rejuvenation process that has reinvigorated the Clyde.

This sense of renewal and reinvestment spreads across to the

city centre, with the establishment, in its oldest cathedral

quarter, of a high-profile, state-of-the-art building described by

the Guardian newspaper as 'a temple to vocational education',

delivering high-order skills for the regional and national economy.

The college is particularly strong in areas such as culinary arts,

creative industries, logistics, STEM provision and innovation. This

super-sized college is now an integral civic anchor to its dynamic,

resurgent city.

The strategic pivot of the Belfast Metropolitan College to

re-locate in the Titanic Quarter demonstrates a similar pattern

of visionary leadership to secure a step change in regeneration.

It was high risk. The former Belfast College had not been engaging

fully with the city and had lacked a sense of civic commitment.

The redevelopment of the Titanic area, now a world-class

heritage icon, was a major strategic gamble for the city. In 2011,

the college was one of the first institutions to move into this

derelict, brown-field site as an anchor tenant. This was a major

boost to the city's political strategy to develop a narrative

especially for the next generation around the ambitious Titanic

story. The city too had lost its way, but had chosen to re-invent

itself as part of a new optimism for Northern Ireland emerging

from 30 years of civic conflict. Where there was shipbuilding

there are now innovative buildings and resurgent industries

in digital applications, advanced manufacturing, tourism and

cultural industries. Marie-Theresa McGivern worked closely

with politicians to engender this new economic cycle, aimed

at both economic regeneration and social inclusion. The city

is re-assessing the skills that will be needed to support future

employment, and the college is mapping out that provision.

Index